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Increasingly, we live in a world
where nothing makes any sense.
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Events come and go like waves of a
fever,
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leaving us confused and uncertain.
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Those in power tell stories to help
us make sense
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of the complexity of reality.
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But those stories are increasingly
unconvincing and hollow.
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# Excuse me, I'm lost... #
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This is a film about why those
stories have stopped making sense.
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And how that led us in the West to
become a dangerous and destructive
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force in the world.
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It is told
through the prism of a country
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at the centre of the world.
Afghanistan.
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# Who are you? #
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MUSIC: Come Down To Us by Burial
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# Here we are
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# I'm tired
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# Break it down
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# Break it down, to my eyes
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# Baby, come on, come on
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# And, girl, I know
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# I know you want it
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# I'm trusting you, I'm going
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# Going
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# Tonight, do you feel alive?
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# Tonight, do you feel alive?
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# Come down to us
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# Come down
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# Down... #
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In 1946, American engineers, along
with their wives and families,
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began to arrive at a dusty
airstrip in Helmand
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in southern Afghanistan.
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They worked for the
biggest construction company
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in the world - called Morrison
Knudsen -
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and the King of Afghanistan had
brought them there
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to build a giant planned new world -
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a complex of dams, canals, roads,
and even a new model city.
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The king's aim was to harness
the power of the giant Helmand river
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and turn his country into a modern
society - just like in the West.
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ARCHIVE: 'The Asiatic kingdom
of Afghanistan is located
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'roughly 10,000 miles from either
coastline of the United States.
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'Almost directly on the opposite side
of the globe, westward from China,
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'beyond the Himalayas.
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'It is a landlocked country, bordered
on the north by the Soviet Union,
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'and on the east by Pakistan,
and on the west by Iran.'
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The King was called Zahir Shah, and
he often came to visit the project.
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Afghanistan was a deeply
conservative country and he was
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determined to modernise it.
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What the King was trying to create
in Helmand was a copy of what
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President Roosevelt had done in
America in the 1930s.
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And the company
he had hired - Morrison Knudsen -
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had worked back
then for Roosevelt,
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building a new world of dams and
power stations across America.
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Now they were going
to do the same for Afghanistan.
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The engineers and their families
lived in a complex of houses
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around the King's country palace
in Helmand.
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It became known as Little America.
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INDISTINCT VOICES
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You got everything you need?
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Quite a lot of stuff lying around.
There is a dead insurgent lying here.
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A man in his early 20s.
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Come on, let's go. Let's go.
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DIALOGUE IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE
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ALL SHOUTING AT ONCE
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OK, I'll follow you in. Off you go.
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OK.
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Good morning.
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Stand up.
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How are you?
WOMEN: I'm fine, thanks.
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You are very good.
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How are your families?
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What will it take to stop
the fighting?
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TRANSLATOR REPEATS
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HE ANSWERS IN HIS OWN LANGUAGE
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MOBILE PHONE PLAYS SONG AS RINGTONE
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RINGTONE STOPS
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INDISTINCT VOICES MIX WITH MUSIC
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How long have you been with the
Taliban, if you don't mind me asking?
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Chris, what's going on?
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All right, wow!
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LAUGHTER
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Wow. You look creepy up close.
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A little creepy from far away too!
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Yeah, that's true.
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What's going on? How are you feeling?
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I'm feeling pretty good right now.
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It's been a pretty exciting day.
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Yeah, getting kills out here.
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Today, just for documentation,
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today was the day we went
against order and we shot anyway.
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We killed, like, a whole bunch
of people.
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24 unapproved rounds.
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24 unapproved high-explosive
mortar rounds.
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That's about 40,000 pounds of death
right there.
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Yo. Yo.
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Fuck it, looks like a rave
in here, almost.
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All I got to say... Actually, I do
have something to say.
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Let's hear it.
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I love the fucking Marine Corp.
LAUGHTER
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- I know many of you...
- We got you on camera saying it!
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I know, I know many of you don't,
but what we did today...
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Yeah, we need born killers, like you.
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Oh, we're all born killers.
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INDISTINCT VOICES
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At the end of the Second World War,
President Roosevelt travelled to
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the Great Bitter Lake
in the middle of the Suez Canal.
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At the same time, he sent
another American warship
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to pick up the King of Saudi Arabia,
King Abdulaziz.
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The meeting of King and President was
to have powerful - and disastrous -
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consequences both for the West and,
in a strange way, for Afghanistan.
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Roosevelt was dying,
but over the last 13 years
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he had used his power on an epic
scale to transform the world.
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After the Wall Street crash and the
terrible depression that followed,
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Roosevelt had taken charge.
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He had passed laws that broke up
the banks
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so they would never run out
of control again.
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And he had rebuilt
America with a series of giant dams
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that brought electrical power and
employment to millions of people.
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And he had planned and fought a
world war against Germany and Japan.
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Now, as Roosevelt sat waiting for
Abdulaziz,
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no-one could possibly have imagined
the consequences of this meeting.
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For it was going to
unleash forces that in the future
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would undermine everything that
Roosevelt had worked for -
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his belief that politicians should
use their power in a planned way
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to reshape the world.
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But Roosevelt knew that to keep that
power, America needed oil.
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And he wanted to forge an alliance
with the King to make sure
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the vast Saudi oilfields remained
under American control.
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In their conversation, the two men
laid the foundations for an alliance
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that continues to the present day.
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America would get its oil - and in
return, Saudi Arabia would receive
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wealth and security from America.
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But the King was well aware of the
dangers of opening up his country
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to the influence of the modern West.
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And in the negotiations that
followed, he laid down a condition.
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We will take your technology
and your money, he said -
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but you must
leave our faith alone.
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The Saudi faith was called Wahhabism.
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It was a radical, violent and
extremely puritanical form of Islam,
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and its followers among the Bedouin
tribes hated the modern world.
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Wahhabism was part of a wider
movement in Islam
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that had risen up
in reaction to the European empires.
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Another was the Deobandi movement
in India.
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They all believed that modern
imperialism was corrupting
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the true nature of Islam,
and wanted to go back to a world
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based on the original teachings
of the Islamic texts.
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Abdulaziz had harnessed this force
in the 1920s to seize power.
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But he had unleashed something that
didn't want to stop.
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The Wahhabists wanted to go on
and create a caliphate
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across the whole of the Arab world -
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and to stop them, in 1929,
Abdulaziz machine-gunned them.
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He ruthlessly killed the warriors
who had made him King.
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But their belief - a violent,
intolerant and, above all,
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backward-looking version of Islam -
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remained at the heart of
Saudi Arabian society.
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And the deal made that day on
the Great Bitter Lake
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meant that America would get
its oil
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but it would also be protecting
Wahhabism -
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a force that
had its own global ambitions.
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Ambitions that were very
different from America's.
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HARP PLAYS
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Who's the turban job on the throne?
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You mean the Khasi.
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That's Randy Lal.
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Who?
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Randy Lal, the Khasi of Kalabar.
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Ooh!
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How do you know he is, then?
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- How do I know he's what?
- Randy.
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- That's his name!
- Ooh!
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He's very good looking, isn't he?
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Yes, only the most richest
and powerful rajah in northern India,
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that's all.
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- He's smiling at us.
- Smile back.
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Coo-ee!
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You don't have to go raving mad.
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My father, who are those people?
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That, light of my darkness,
is Sir Sidney Rough Diamond,
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a British governor
whose benevolent rule
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and wise guidance
we could well do without.
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By the mid-1950s,
the American engineers had built
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the giant dams that were going to
create what they called
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"a new wonderland of vegetation
and power" in Helmand.
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But the project was running into
problems
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and it was beginning
to lose its innocence.
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As the giant dams were completed,
they had an unexpected effect.
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They raised the
level of the water table
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and started to bring salt
to the surface.
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And one of the plants that thrived
in this new soil were poppies.
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Some of those leading the project
said they should stop.
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But the American government stepped
in and insisted that they should
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continue because by now the dams
had become a central part
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of the struggle with
the Soviet Union.
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All sides in the Cold War began to
compete to offer Afghanistan
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bigger and better schemes to
modernise the country.
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Afghan politicians exploited
this ruthlessly.
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The Prime Minister, Mohammed Daoud,
spent his time travelling the world
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00:22:15,280 --> 00:22:18,080
playing the countries - Russia,
America and China -
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00:22:18,080 --> 00:22:19,880
off against each other.
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00:22:21,160 --> 00:22:25,440
Daoud wanted to use the modernization
as a way of consolidating his power.
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Afghanistan was a fragmented country.
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Power was divided between
ethnic groups and tribes.
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Daoud was a Pashtun and he saw how
the dam project in Helmand
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00:22:37,560 --> 00:22:41,400
could be used to consolidate the
Pashtun grip on the whole country.
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He persuaded the Americans to make
the project even bigger,
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to turn it into a giant piece of
social engineering.
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Thousands of Pashtun nomads,
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00:22:52,480 --> 00:22:56,000
who spent their time roaming
the border area with Pakistan,
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00:22:56,000 --> 00:22:59,320
would be settled in the new farmland
created by the dams.
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Daoud presented it as just another
innocent piece of modernisation -
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and the Americans happily agreed.
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What they didn't realise was that
they were unwittingly being sucked
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into Afghan power politics.
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00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:18,720
Not only was Daoud increasing
Pashtun power, but he
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00:23:18,720 --> 00:23:22,000
was sowing the seeds of bitter
rivalries
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00:23:22,000 --> 00:23:24,920
over the division and
ownership of land in Helmand.
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UPBEAT DANCE MUSIC PLAYS
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TRUMPET PLAYS AFGHAN FOLK MUSIC
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CROWD CLAPS ALONG
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FOLK DANCE MUSIC PLAYS
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BOYS CALL IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE
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GUNSHOTS
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BARRAGE OF GUNFIRE
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SHOUTING
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CAR HORN BEEPS
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MAN SHOUTS IN HIS OWN LANGUAGE
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ALARM BLARES
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MEN TALK QUIETLY
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SHIP'S HORN BLARES
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CAMEL GRUNTS
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The British Board of Trade,
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00:29:19,600 --> 00:29:22,320
in the booklet it gives out to
visiting British businessmen,
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00:29:22,320 --> 00:29:26,080
does try to be helpful, but this
is what it says about Arabic time,
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00:29:26,080 --> 00:29:28,240
and that's only one of them.
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00:29:28,240 --> 00:29:32,280
"Sunset is taken as zero,
when watches are set to 12.
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00:29:32,280 --> 00:29:36,080
"A business appointment given for,
say, two o'clock in the evening
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00:29:36,080 --> 00:29:39,480
"will therefore be
for two hours after sunset
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00:29:39,480 --> 00:29:43,720
"and for five o'clock in the morning,
seven hours before sunset.
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00:29:43,720 --> 00:29:47,240
"It's important to remember
that sunset should be regarded
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00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:50,160
"as midnight. The time
of sunrise is irrelevant."
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I don't know about you but I know
sun time is roughly six hours, uh...
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00:29:55,840 --> 00:29:59,800
plus five, in other words it's either
11 o'clock, morning or evening.
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00:29:59,800 --> 00:30:02,880
- But which?
- Well, it's 11 o'clock.
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But it must have some relevance
to the time of day.
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- Yes.
- How do you, as a businessman,
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00:30:07,360 --> 00:30:08,680
make appointments?
246
00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:11,160
Um... I normally
make them by my watch.
247
00:30:11,160 --> 00:30:16,640
I ask them personally whether they
are conforming to either Arabic time,
248
00:30:16,640 --> 00:30:19,800
sun time or GMT plus three.
They normally say the other two.
249
00:30:19,800 --> 00:30:22,920
I ask them to give me
a time at GMT plus three.
250
00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:26,600
Now, sun time is six hours
after this, roughly.
251
00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:28,160
Six hours after that?
252
00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:30,840
Six hours plus five,
give or take an hour.
253
00:30:30,840 --> 00:30:33,040
Do you know what time it is now?
254
00:30:33,040 --> 00:30:34,360
Not really!
255
00:30:35,560 --> 00:30:40,040
In 1964, King Faisal became
the new leader of Saudi Arabia.
256
00:30:40,040 --> 00:30:43,360
Faisal set out
to modernise the country.
257
00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:47,400
He created western-style
bureaucracies and a welfare system.
258
00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:50,080
He even allowed television
for the first time.
259
00:30:51,840 --> 00:30:54,120
But he faced two threats.
260
00:30:54,120 --> 00:30:57,800
One was from the religious leaders
inside Saudi Arabia.
261
00:30:57,800 --> 00:31:00,920
They were the Wahhabists, who had
brought his family to power
262
00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:03,280
and gave his rule legitimacy.
263
00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:06,520
They distrusted any idea
of modernising Saudi society.
264
00:31:08,520 --> 00:31:11,720
Faisal was also facing
a dangerous situation abroad,
265
00:31:11,720 --> 00:31:15,080
from communism, that was spreading
through the Arab world.
266
00:31:16,360 --> 00:31:18,840
His solution was simple.
267
00:31:18,840 --> 00:31:23,200
Faisal decided to use the religious
leaders and their conservative
268
00:31:23,200 --> 00:31:27,680
beliefs as a force to counter the
international threat of communism.
269
00:31:27,680 --> 00:31:30,800
But he knew that this would also
divert their attention
270
00:31:30,800 --> 00:31:32,720
away from his domestic policies.
271
00:31:34,120 --> 00:31:36,120
Faisal used the growing oil money
272
00:31:36,120 --> 00:31:40,160
to set up hundreds of schools and
institutes across the Islamic world -
273
00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:41,800
some as far away as Pakistan.
274
00:31:43,440 --> 00:31:48,200
Their job was to spread Wahhabist
ideas and help to turn Islam into
275
00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:52,240
a unified international force strong
enough to stand up to communism.
276
00:31:54,720 --> 00:31:57,440
What Faisal was doing
was taking the dangerous
277
00:31:57,440 --> 00:32:00,880
and unstable fanaticism
at the heart of Saudi society
278
00:32:00,880 --> 00:32:04,120
and directing it outwards,
beyond its borders.
279
00:32:05,520 --> 00:32:09,960
It was a ruthless way of creating
stability in his own country.
280
00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:11,960
America gave this tacit approval
281
00:32:11,960 --> 00:32:15,920
because it was part of the global
struggle against communism.
282
00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:20,240
But in 1966, Faisal gave America
283
00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:24,120
a glimpse of how uncontrollable
an ally Saudi Arabia could be.
284
00:32:25,160 --> 00:32:26,440
He went to New York
285
00:32:26,440 --> 00:32:29,480
and publicly attacked
America's support for Israel.
286
00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:30,800
It caused an outrage.
287
00:32:32,560 --> 00:32:35,920
HE SPEAKS IN ARABIC
288
00:32:52,760 --> 00:32:55,680
The reasons are that unfortunately,
289
00:32:55,680 --> 00:32:58,280
the Jews throughout the world
support Israel.
290
00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:03,000
They provide assistance to Israel
and in our present situation,
291
00:33:03,000 --> 00:33:08,280
we consider those who
provide assistance to our enemy
292
00:33:08,280 --> 00:33:10,000
as our own enemy.
293
00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:14,560
HE SPEAKS ARABIC
294
00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:34,000
I'd like to hire a photocopy machine.
295
00:33:34,000 --> 00:33:37,000
- OK.
- For three months.
296
00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:38,600
That's OK.
297
00:33:38,600 --> 00:33:40,960
- Possibly for six months.
- Yes, why not?
298
00:33:40,960 --> 00:33:42,120
Um...
299
00:33:42,120 --> 00:33:45,560
If you like it for one year,
one for...
300
00:33:45,560 --> 00:33:51,560
What I need from you is, how many
conditions and how much it will be.
301
00:33:51,560 --> 00:33:54,840
MAN SPEAKS HIS OWN LANGUAGE
302
00:34:00,560 --> 00:34:02,640
Ho, ho, ho, ho.
303
00:34:04,320 --> 00:34:09,400
Do you have a lot of...
all that toner and the developer?
304
00:34:09,400 --> 00:34:14,360
Yeah, we want you to
maintain it and service it. OK?
305
00:34:14,360 --> 00:34:18,560
MEN SPEAK IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE
306
00:34:28,480 --> 00:34:34,800
Sir, we buy paper from them,
the colour from them, that's OK?
307
00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:37,440
Yeah. Can you give me a price
for three months,
308
00:34:37,440 --> 00:34:38,920
possibly for six months?
309
00:34:38,920 --> 00:34:41,080
The contract must last
for three months.
310
00:34:41,080 --> 00:34:42,320
OK.
311
00:34:42,320 --> 00:34:44,360
THEY SPEAK IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE
312
00:34:48,320 --> 00:34:50,240
500 dollar per month.
313
00:34:50,240 --> 00:34:52,760
- 500 dollar per month.
- Per month?
314
00:34:52,760 --> 00:34:55,200
- It's very expensive.
- That is very expensive.
315
00:34:55,200 --> 00:34:57,760
What you have,
if you're bringing in here,
316
00:34:57,760 --> 00:35:00,520
you can set them here,
I will copy for you.
317
00:35:00,520 --> 00:35:03,120
No, no,
we want to take the copier away.
318
00:35:05,200 --> 00:35:08,640
MUSIC: The Bewlay Brothers
by David Bowie
319
00:35:18,880 --> 00:35:21,280
# And so the story goes,
they wore the clothes
320
00:35:21,280 --> 00:35:25,120
# They said the things
to make it seem improbable
321
00:35:26,960 --> 00:35:29,480
# Whale of a lie
like they hope it was
322
00:35:34,960 --> 00:35:38,960
# And the good men tomorrow
had their feet in the wallow
323
00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:41,720
# And their heads of brawn
were nicer shorn
324
00:35:41,720 --> 00:35:45,880
# And how they bought their positions
with saccharin and trust
325
00:35:47,520 --> 00:35:51,000
# And the world was asleep
to our latent fuss
326
00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:59,600
# Sighings swirl through the streets
like the crust of the sun
327
00:35:59,600 --> 00:36:01,280
# The Bewlay Brothers
328
00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:04,640
# In our wings that bark
329
00:36:06,800 --> 00:36:08,760
# Flashing teeth of brass
330
00:36:10,720 --> 00:36:13,240
# Standing tall in the dark
331
00:36:13,240 --> 00:36:16,080
# Oh, and we were gone... #
332
00:36:17,720 --> 00:36:22,080
Your Excellency, your presence
enriches my humble home.
333
00:36:22,080 --> 00:36:26,520
May the benevolence of the god Shivu
bring blessings on your house.
334
00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:28,400
And on yours.
335
00:36:28,400 --> 00:36:33,360
And may his wisdom bring success
in all your undertakings.
336
00:36:33,360 --> 00:36:35,360
And in yours.
337
00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:39,360
And may his radiance
light up your life.
338
00:36:39,360 --> 00:36:40,800
And up yours.
339
00:36:42,240 --> 00:36:43,920
- Do you ever...
- It really angers me.
340
00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:46,040
Do you ever feel frustrated
at perhaps, I mean,
341
00:36:46,040 --> 00:36:48,560
you've spoken about corruption
and certainly in the past
342
00:36:48,560 --> 00:36:51,440
you've made very strong views
against officials, for example,
343
00:36:51,440 --> 00:36:56,880
who are corrupt, but many of those
officials haven't left their jobs,
344
00:36:56,880 --> 00:36:58,640
they haven't obeyed your orders.
345
00:36:58,640 --> 00:37:02,040
No, they have all left their jobs.
346
00:37:02,040 --> 00:37:03,280
Certainly.
347
00:37:03,280 --> 00:37:06,280
In the past few days,
the 28 that you have sacked,
348
00:37:06,280 --> 00:37:10,000
19, our information is that 19 of
them are still in their positions.
349
00:37:10,000 --> 00:37:13,440
No, that's not true.
They have all gone.
350
00:37:13,440 --> 00:37:15,200
They have all gone.
351
00:37:15,200 --> 00:37:18,600
- OK.
- Definitely. Definitely.
352
00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:21,920
So you're confident, then,
that your power is building
353
00:37:21,920 --> 00:37:24,080
in terms of being able to enact,
354
00:37:24,080 --> 00:37:27,040
to make sure that
your orders are obeyed.
355
00:37:27,040 --> 00:37:31,480
I'm... I'm building a new
administration for Afghanistan.
356
00:37:33,200 --> 00:37:36,960
I'm working on a clean,
efficient administration.
357
00:37:36,960 --> 00:37:40,440
Back! Back off! Back the fuck off!
358
00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:43,520
Get the fuck out of the way.
Get the fuck out!
359
00:37:43,520 --> 00:37:46,720
MUSIC RESUMES: The Bewlay Brothers
by David Bowie
360
00:37:49,200 --> 00:37:51,880
# I was stone, he was wax
361
00:37:51,880 --> 00:37:56,240
# So he could scream and still relax,
unbelievable
362
00:37:56,240 --> 00:37:59,160
# And we frightened
the small children away
363
00:38:05,320 --> 00:38:08,480
# And our talk was old
and dust would flow through our veins
364
00:38:08,480 --> 00:38:12,360
# And though it was midnight
back at the kitchen door
365
00:38:12,360 --> 00:38:14,880
# Like the grim face
on the cathedral floor
366
00:38:18,600 --> 00:38:22,240
# The solid book we wrote
cannot be found today
367
00:38:26,080 --> 00:38:30,960
# And it was stalking time for
the moon boys, the Bewlay Brothers
368
00:38:33,520 --> 00:38:35,760
# With our backs on the arch
369
00:38:37,600 --> 00:38:39,880
# And the Devil may be here
370
00:38:41,480 --> 00:38:43,880
# But he can't sing about that
371
00:38:43,880 --> 00:38:47,400
# Oh, and we were gone
372
00:38:49,240 --> 00:38:51,840
# Real cool traders
373
00:38:52,880 --> 00:38:55,520
# We were so turned on... #
374
00:38:55,520 --> 00:38:57,040
MUSIC DISTORTS, FADES
375
00:38:57,040 --> 00:38:59,360
# You thought we were fakers... #
376
00:39:04,320 --> 00:39:07,840
DOG BARKS
377
00:39:07,840 --> 00:39:10,560
The other day, a friend
of Blue Peter's, Angela Mulliner,
378
00:39:10,560 --> 00:39:14,000
invited me to help her groom some
dogs with very shaggy coats indeed,
379
00:39:14,000 --> 00:39:16,000
a pair of Afghan hounds.
380
00:39:17,840 --> 00:39:19,240
This should be a good spot.
381
00:39:19,240 --> 00:39:21,680
'You need plenty of space
to groom dogs this size,
382
00:39:21,680 --> 00:39:23,160
'so we picked the park.
383
00:39:23,160 --> 00:39:25,920
'Their names were Kingsley and Cleo
and I said I'd do Cleo.'
384
00:39:25,920 --> 00:39:28,320
How often is one supposed to do this?
385
00:39:28,320 --> 00:39:30,200
- Very frequently.
- Oh, gosh.
386
00:39:30,200 --> 00:39:32,160
Don't sit down, Cleo,
there's a good girl.
387
00:39:32,160 --> 00:39:34,520
'Angela and I wanted the dogs
to look their very best
388
00:39:34,520 --> 00:39:37,320
'because we were taking them out
on a special assignment.
389
00:39:37,320 --> 00:39:39,160
'We were all going off to The Mall
390
00:39:39,160 --> 00:39:41,240
'and we had to be there
by 12 o'clock.'
391
00:39:41,240 --> 00:39:42,840
- Come on, then, dogs.
- Come on.
392
00:39:42,840 --> 00:39:46,280
'We felt very proud of Kingsley and
Cleo because they had been invited
393
00:39:46,280 --> 00:39:47,800
'to join a guard of honour.'
394
00:39:47,800 --> 00:39:50,600
'Afghan hounds were going to
salute their king, because
395
00:39:50,600 --> 00:39:54,880
'for the first time ever, the King of
Afghanistan was coming to London.'
396
00:39:54,880 --> 00:39:57,440
MARCHING BAND PLAYS
397
00:39:57,440 --> 00:40:00,560
'About 20 members of
the Southern Afghan Hound Society
398
00:40:00,560 --> 00:40:02,880
'had brought their dogs along
to line the route
399
00:40:02,880 --> 00:40:05,520
'and there were Afghans
of all colours and sizes.'
400
00:40:08,760 --> 00:40:10,520
'And when the Queen pointed us out,
401
00:40:10,520 --> 00:40:13,760
'the King of Afghanistan
seemed delighted to see us.
402
00:40:13,760 --> 00:40:16,040
CHEERING
403
00:40:19,400 --> 00:40:21,120
'For the first time in their lives,
404
00:40:21,120 --> 00:40:24,240
'British Afghan hounds were seeing
people from their own country
405
00:40:24,240 --> 00:40:26,640
'because in the carriages
that followed the Queen,
406
00:40:26,640 --> 00:40:29,680
'there were more people from
the Royal Court of Afghanistan.'
407
00:40:29,680 --> 00:40:33,080
ADAM CURTIS: But the ordered world,
where kings and queens ruled
408
00:40:33,080 --> 00:40:36,480
and dogs behaved obediently,
was about to collapse.
409
00:40:36,480 --> 00:40:39,080
In 1971, the King of Afghanistan
410
00:40:39,080 --> 00:40:42,160
had come on his first ever
state visit to Britain
411
00:40:42,160 --> 00:40:44,680
but it was also his last,
412
00:40:44,680 --> 00:40:47,720
because his ambitious
Prime Minister, Mohammed Daoud,
413
00:40:47,720 --> 00:40:50,080
was already plotting against him.
414
00:40:50,080 --> 00:40:54,200
And in 1973,
Daoud took power in a coup.
415
00:40:54,200 --> 00:40:58,440
He declared Afghanistan a republic,
and sent the King into exile.
416
00:40:58,440 --> 00:41:00,440
DOGS BARK
417
00:41:11,520 --> 00:41:14,120
Two months later,
Egypt attacked Israel
418
00:41:14,120 --> 00:41:16,040
and a Middle East war started.
419
00:41:17,160 --> 00:41:20,720
To begin with, it looked
as though Israel would be defeated.
420
00:41:20,720 --> 00:41:24,160
But the American government came
to its rescue, airlifting arms
421
00:41:24,160 --> 00:41:28,760
on a massive scale to prevent
the Israelis from being overwhelmed.
422
00:41:28,760 --> 00:41:32,240
The Israelis counterattacked
and the Arabs faced a disaster.
423
00:41:36,160 --> 00:41:39,440
But then Saudi Arabia
came to the rescue
424
00:41:39,440 --> 00:41:41,240
because King Faisal realised
425
00:41:41,240 --> 00:41:44,960
that his country had a weapon
that could stop Israel.
426
00:41:44,960 --> 00:41:48,560
Overnight, Faisal raised
the price of oil five times
427
00:41:48,560 --> 00:41:50,480
and threatened a complete embargo
428
00:41:50,480 --> 00:41:52,960
unless America
forced Israel to pull back.
429
00:41:54,480 --> 00:41:57,200
It worked. A ceasefire was agreed.
430
00:41:58,440 --> 00:42:01,840
And everyone realised that
the balance of power in the world
431
00:42:01,840 --> 00:42:03,280
had suddenly changed.
432
00:42:10,680 --> 00:42:15,240
What we want is the complete
withdrawal of the Israeli forces
433
00:42:15,240 --> 00:42:17,960
from the occupied Arab territories
434
00:42:17,960 --> 00:42:19,920
and then you will have the oil
435
00:42:19,920 --> 00:42:22,560
at the same level of September '73.
436
00:42:24,240 --> 00:42:28,360
Is this demand absolute and rigid or
is this just a negotiating position?
437
00:42:28,360 --> 00:42:29,880
Definitely. Definitely.
438
00:42:29,880 --> 00:42:33,200
We won't give up any inch
of these lands.
439
00:42:33,200 --> 00:42:36,120
Doesn't this new massive increase
in the price of oil
440
00:42:36,120 --> 00:42:38,440
mean a change in
the world balance of power
441
00:42:38,440 --> 00:42:41,680
between the developing nations
like you, the producers,
442
00:42:41,680 --> 00:42:44,360
and us, the developed
industrialised nations?
443
00:42:44,360 --> 00:42:45,600
Yes, it will.
444
00:42:46,920 --> 00:42:49,760
And what do you think
arises from that?
445
00:42:49,760 --> 00:42:52,080
Well, a new type of relationship.
446
00:42:52,080 --> 00:42:55,880
You have to adjust yourself to
the new circumstances
447
00:42:55,880 --> 00:43:00,440
and I think you have to sit down
and talk seriously with us
448
00:43:00,440 --> 00:43:02,040
about this new era.
449
00:43:04,760 --> 00:43:07,080
When Saudi Arabia
raised the price of oil,
450
00:43:07,080 --> 00:43:11,520
they did it to change the political
balance of power in the world.
451
00:43:11,520 --> 00:43:15,080
But it also had
another, unexpected, effect
452
00:43:15,080 --> 00:43:18,760
because it allowed the men who ran
the banks and the financial system
453
00:43:18,760 --> 00:43:22,920
in America and Britain to begin to
break free of political control.
454
00:43:24,400 --> 00:43:28,240
Billions of dollars flooded
from the West into Saudi Arabia -
455
00:43:28,240 --> 00:43:32,120
most of which the Saudis
didn't know what to do with.
456
00:43:32,120 --> 00:43:35,040
So they gave them to
the Western banks to invest.
457
00:43:36,200 --> 00:43:39,440
The banks then made a crucial
decision - they kept many
458
00:43:39,440 --> 00:43:43,040
of those dollars free from
control by the American government
459
00:43:43,040 --> 00:43:46,720
and they became a vast pool of
wealth, known as petrodollars,
460
00:43:46,720 --> 00:43:49,760
that could be lent and traded
anywhere around the world
461
00:43:49,760 --> 00:43:51,440
without political control.
462
00:43:52,920 --> 00:43:56,320
As western politicians struggled
to deal with the economic
463
00:43:56,320 --> 00:43:59,840
and social chaos that had been
created by the oil price rise,
464
00:43:59,840 --> 00:44:04,200
their bankers were building
a new global financial system
465
00:44:04,200 --> 00:44:07,080
based on recycling
the Saudi billions.
466
00:44:08,640 --> 00:44:11,880
And the banks began to become
rich and powerful again.
467
00:44:19,960 --> 00:44:25,160
DISTANT MUFFLED SHOUTING
468
00:45:33,120 --> 00:45:35,080
Does he know where the Taliban are?
469
00:45:35,080 --> 00:45:38,320
The biggest Taliban shelter...
Taliban...
470
00:45:38,320 --> 00:45:41,480
THEY SPEAK IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE
471
00:45:41,480 --> 00:45:43,320
- Marjah?
- Marjah.
472
00:45:43,320 --> 00:45:44,960
He said Taliban is in Marjah.
473
00:45:44,960 --> 00:45:48,560
LAUGHING: Uh-huh, Marjah. Marjah.
474
00:45:48,560 --> 00:45:53,120
THEY SPEAK THEIR OWN LANGUAGE
475
00:45:53,120 --> 00:45:56,080
They use his compound as...
MAN SPEAKS HIS OWN LANGUAGE
476
00:45:56,080 --> 00:46:00,320
- Assalamu alaikum.
- Assalamu alaikum.
477
00:46:00,320 --> 00:46:03,080
Right. Are we in Kushal Kalay
just now?
478
00:46:03,080 --> 00:46:06,400
Is this Kushal Kalay? What is
the name of this village?
479
00:46:06,400 --> 00:46:09,160
MAN TRANSLATES
480
00:46:09,160 --> 00:46:11,520
This is the edge of Kushal Kalay.
481
00:46:11,520 --> 00:46:15,240
Have the Taliban gone now or
are they still in Kushal Kalay?
482
00:46:15,240 --> 00:46:17,760
HE TRANSLATES
483
00:46:17,760 --> 00:46:21,040
OK. Where... Sh, sh, sh.
484
00:46:21,040 --> 00:46:24,880
Where has he seen Taliban? Where?
485
00:46:24,880 --> 00:46:30,560
THEY SPEAK OWN LANGUAGE
486
00:46:30,560 --> 00:46:32,160
Sure, sure.
487
00:46:32,160 --> 00:46:35,600
HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
488
00:46:35,600 --> 00:46:37,360
How far?
489
00:46:37,360 --> 00:46:40,880
HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
490
00:46:40,880 --> 00:46:42,160
Here, the Taliban?
491
00:46:42,160 --> 00:46:44,160
HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
492
00:46:44,160 --> 00:46:46,840
There, there, there!
Right, sir - sir!
493
00:46:46,840 --> 00:46:53,320
THEY SPEAK OWN LANGUAGE
494
00:46:53,320 --> 00:46:56,280
This guy's ID-ing these here
and saying they're Taliban.
495
00:46:56,280 --> 00:46:59,120
HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
Yeah. Two men.
496
00:46:59,120 --> 00:47:02,000
HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
Yeah, there.
497
00:47:02,000 --> 00:47:03,200
Taliban, yeah?
498
00:47:03,200 --> 00:47:05,120
HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
499
00:47:35,040 --> 00:47:37,080
KIDS SHOUT
500
00:47:55,080 --> 00:47:59,080
THEY SPEAK OWN LANGUAGE
501
00:48:03,600 --> 00:48:05,640
WIND HOWLS
502
00:48:10,080 --> 00:48:13,840
As western countries collapsed
economically in the 1970s,
503
00:48:13,840 --> 00:48:17,960
students from Europe and America
fled from the chaos.
504
00:48:17,960 --> 00:48:21,560
They came to Afghanistan
as a land of dreams.
505
00:48:21,560 --> 00:48:23,680
A different, innocent world,
506
00:48:23,680 --> 00:48:26,600
free of the corruption of politics
and money in the West.
507
00:48:31,240 --> 00:48:34,880
MAN: Then you see some Afghan
come dozing out of the sand,
508
00:48:34,880 --> 00:48:37,800
hardly give you a look,
and carry on past.
509
00:48:37,800 --> 00:48:40,680
You long to ask, "Where are you
going? Where have you come from?"
510
00:48:40,680 --> 00:48:43,280
But he just disappears into the murk,
511
00:48:43,280 --> 00:48:45,120
going about his everyday business.
512
00:48:51,560 --> 00:48:53,640
A traveller is someone
513
00:48:53,640 --> 00:48:55,760
who proceeds through a country
514
00:48:55,760 --> 00:48:57,560
under his own initiative,
515
00:48:57,560 --> 00:49:00,520
with a certain internal drive
to learn,
516
00:49:00,520 --> 00:49:04,480
to find out something more
than the superficial.
517
00:49:04,480 --> 00:49:08,320
To me, an Afghan was some
figure from a woodblock print
518
00:49:08,320 --> 00:49:09,960
in a book about India.
519
00:49:09,960 --> 00:49:13,160
The reality of an Afghan
was so beyond that,
520
00:49:13,160 --> 00:49:15,440
their strength of character
which comes through
521
00:49:15,440 --> 00:49:16,960
in their most simple action.
522
00:49:18,160 --> 00:49:21,040
This is a long jacket. For men.
523
00:49:22,720 --> 00:49:26,080
For generation.
It goes from mother to daughter.
524
00:49:26,080 --> 00:49:27,720
A possum.
525
00:49:27,720 --> 00:49:30,320
This is antelope.
526
00:49:30,320 --> 00:49:32,680
Look at this coat.
527
00:50:15,000 --> 00:50:18,240
But Afghan students still believed
in the idea of revolution.
528
00:50:19,680 --> 00:50:23,920
Back in the 1960s, many students
from Kabul University had been sent
529
00:50:23,920 --> 00:50:25,320
to universities in America.
530
00:50:26,600 --> 00:50:29,520
It had been part of the
modernisation project.
531
00:50:29,520 --> 00:50:32,160
And they brought back with them
radical ideas
532
00:50:32,160 --> 00:50:34,680
from the American student left.
533
00:50:34,680 --> 00:50:36,320
Back in Kabul,
534
00:50:36,320 --> 00:50:39,640
those ideas then got mixed up
with other left-wing theories
535
00:50:39,640 --> 00:50:42,960
that the Afghan students found in
badly-translated Russian books
536
00:50:42,960 --> 00:50:44,360
about Marxism.
537
00:50:45,560 --> 00:50:49,240
And in 1978 they decided
to have a revolution.
538
00:50:53,240 --> 00:50:56,040
One of the leaders was
Hafizullah Amin,
539
00:50:56,040 --> 00:50:59,360
and after the revolution
he ordered a film to be made
540
00:50:59,360 --> 00:51:01,800
about the role he had played.
541
00:51:01,800 --> 00:51:04,800
Amin also starred in the film,
playing himself.
542
00:51:06,120 --> 00:51:10,640
It shows policemen coming to Amin's
house to arrest him.
543
00:51:10,640 --> 00:51:12,880
He tries to hide some secret papers.
544
00:51:16,960 --> 00:51:21,080
But the policemen take him to jail,
leaving his wife and daughter.
545
00:51:34,920 --> 00:51:38,400
Amin is then shown directing the
revolution from his prison cell.
546
00:51:39,520 --> 00:51:42,640
And then riding on a tank
to the president's palace.
547
00:51:48,400 --> 00:51:51,240
REPORTER: Tanks loyal to young
communist army officers
548
00:51:51,240 --> 00:51:54,360
now guard the palace
where President Daoud ruled.
549
00:51:54,360 --> 00:51:58,840
Inside, he and his family,
including his young grandchildren,
550
00:51:58,840 --> 00:52:02,320
are shot dead when his palace guard
lost their courageous battle
551
00:52:02,320 --> 00:52:04,000
to defend him.
552
00:52:04,000 --> 00:52:07,280
Men from the different tribes
who live in this backward country
553
00:52:07,280 --> 00:52:10,680
swarm all over tanks
knocked out in the battle.
554
00:52:10,680 --> 00:52:14,200
They seem pleased to see the end
of the old, feudal regime.
555
00:52:14,200 --> 00:52:16,800
ADAM CURTIS: The revolutionaries
gave a press conference.
556
00:52:16,800 --> 00:52:19,680
Amin, it was announced,
would become Foreign Minister.
557
00:52:19,680 --> 00:52:21,920
And the president of the
revolutionary council
558
00:52:21,920 --> 00:52:25,200
was another ex-student -
Mohammed Taraki.
559
00:52:25,200 --> 00:52:29,360
Our relationship with all the
countries, including Soviet Union,
560
00:52:29,360 --> 00:52:33,480
and all our neighbours and
throughout the world will be peace,
561
00:52:33,480 --> 00:52:38,440
will depend on the amount of their
support to our government
562
00:52:38,440 --> 00:52:42,320
in political, economical field.
563
00:52:42,320 --> 00:52:43,920
Does this mean, Mr President,
564
00:52:43,920 --> 00:52:46,920
that you will be following a
strict policy of non-alignment?
565
00:52:46,920 --> 00:52:48,720
This is quite correct.
566
00:52:50,960 --> 00:52:54,720
The aim of the revolution was
to create a new Afghanistan,
567
00:52:54,720 --> 00:52:58,040
and parades were held in Kabul
to celebrate the radical vision.
568
00:52:59,720 --> 00:53:03,320
One of the main aims was to
redistribute land fairly,
569
00:53:03,320 --> 00:53:07,640
to get rid of a feudal system
of landowners and peasants.
570
00:53:07,640 --> 00:53:10,800
Every farmer was to be allowed
to own their own land.
571
00:53:10,800 --> 00:53:12,800
And young revolutionaries from Kabul
572
00:53:12,800 --> 00:53:15,080
were filmed going out
into the countryside
573
00:53:15,080 --> 00:53:17,640
to measure out the new plots,
574
00:53:17,640 --> 00:53:21,520
followed by the grateful farmers
kissing their new land certificates.
575
00:53:24,240 --> 00:53:28,000
But in reality, the land reforms
set the seeds for a bitter conflict
576
00:53:28,000 --> 00:53:31,000
in Helmand. It made the divisions
577
00:53:31,000 --> 00:53:36,360
that had begun with President Daoud's
reforms in the 1960s much worse.
578
00:53:36,360 --> 00:53:38,480
As the land was parcelled out,
579
00:53:38,480 --> 00:53:41,800
families accused each other
of stealing the best bits.
580
00:53:41,800 --> 00:53:44,040
And all sorts of hatreds
and rivalries
581
00:53:44,040 --> 00:53:47,160
were born in Afghan rural society,
582
00:53:47,160 --> 00:53:51,480
rivalries that would set village
against village, tribe against tribe.
583
00:53:53,680 --> 00:53:57,840
And in Kabul, the revolutionaries
started to hate each other, too.
584
00:53:59,120 --> 00:54:02,720
Hafizullah Amin decided
that he should be in charge,
585
00:54:02,720 --> 00:54:06,040
and he arranged for his rival,
Taraki, to be killed.
586
00:54:06,040 --> 00:54:08,160
Taraki was smothered with a cushion.
587
00:54:09,480 --> 00:54:12,480
Amin ordered that anyone
who opposed the reforms
588
00:54:12,480 --> 00:54:15,120
should be thrown in jail or killed.
589
00:54:15,120 --> 00:54:19,320
In Helmand, 100 political prisoners
were taken up in a plane
590
00:54:19,320 --> 00:54:22,240
and thrown into the giant lake
created by the American dam.
591
00:54:23,520 --> 00:54:27,040
The Soviet leaders in Moscow became
terrified that Afghanistan
592
00:54:27,040 --> 00:54:31,320
was falling apart and
they decided to intervene.
593
00:54:31,320 --> 00:54:34,120
They rang Amin to tell him that
they were sending Russian troops
594
00:54:34,120 --> 00:54:36,400
to help his revolution.
595
00:54:36,400 --> 00:54:41,080
And at the end of 1979, the troops
began to arrive at Kabul Airport.
596
00:54:43,920 --> 00:54:45,960
What the Russians didn't tell Amin
597
00:54:45,960 --> 00:54:48,320
was that the troops were also
coming to kill him.
598
00:54:57,200 --> 00:55:01,200
The Russians put a sniper
on one of the main roads in Kabul.
599
00:55:01,200 --> 00:55:05,360
But Amin's convoy drove too fast
and the sniper missed.
600
00:55:05,360 --> 00:55:07,200
GUNSHOT
601
00:55:07,200 --> 00:55:09,480
THEY SPEAK OWN LANGUAGE
602
00:55:14,920 --> 00:55:16,400
They tried again.
603
00:55:16,400 --> 00:55:19,280
This time they put poison
in Amin's can of Pepsi
604
00:55:19,280 --> 00:55:22,040
in the presidential palace.
605
00:55:22,040 --> 00:55:25,200
But his nephew drank it instead...
606
00:55:25,200 --> 00:55:26,800
and died.
607
00:55:28,040 --> 00:55:31,840
Amin gave a banquet
in a palace outside Kabul.
608
00:55:31,840 --> 00:55:35,680
The Soviets smuggled in a chef
who poisoned the food.
609
00:55:35,680 --> 00:55:37,200
This time it worked -
610
00:55:37,200 --> 00:55:41,120
all the guests, and Amin, fell
on the floor, writhing in agony.
611
00:55:41,120 --> 00:55:43,640
But the Afghan servants
rang for help
612
00:55:43,640 --> 00:55:47,520
and two Russian doctors turned up
who knew nothing of the plot.
613
00:55:47,520 --> 00:55:50,600
They pumped Amin's stomach
and he revived.
614
00:55:50,600 --> 00:55:54,040
So the Russian troops attacked
the palace, threw a grenade at Amin,
615
00:55:54,040 --> 00:55:55,320
and shot him.
616
00:56:39,520 --> 00:56:42,560
SHOUTING IN OWN LANGUAGE
617
00:58:23,440 --> 00:58:25,880
INDISTINCT VOICES ON RADIO
618
00:58:49,120 --> 00:58:53,120
INDISTINCT VOICES ON RADIO
619
00:59:24,120 --> 00:59:28,400
Couldn't be happier. And I'm
particularly happy today.
620
00:59:28,400 --> 00:59:29,640
Why?
621
00:59:29,640 --> 00:59:32,000
We had a very good election
last night
622
00:59:32,000 --> 00:59:35,760
and the people came out
in huge numbers to vote.
623
00:59:35,760 --> 00:59:38,720
And voted a new president,
which is the people's choice,
624
00:59:38,720 --> 00:59:41,640
and that's democracy in action.
625
00:59:41,640 --> 00:59:44,480
And I'm very proud of the people
of the United States.
626
00:59:44,480 --> 00:59:45,840
Oh, I was thrilled.
627
00:59:45,840 --> 00:59:48,480
I think the stock market will go up,
everyone will be happy,
628
00:59:48,480 --> 00:59:50,040
the economy is going to level off,
629
00:59:50,040 --> 00:59:53,080
our international relations
will become much more stable.
630
00:59:53,080 --> 00:59:56,280
I've worked very, very hard on the
election in some of the phone banks
631
00:59:56,280 --> 00:59:59,120
and all of my friends did.
Thrilled to pieces about it.
632
01:00:00,200 --> 01:00:03,280
I, uh, always have voted,
uh, Democrat.
633
01:00:03,280 --> 01:00:07,920
So, you know, times have changed
now so, I'm not a baby any more
634
01:00:07,920 --> 01:00:10,800
so I had to make a change
and I made a change.
635
01:00:10,800 --> 01:00:12,440
And so the right man won.
636
01:00:13,680 --> 01:00:17,040
President Reagan simplified
everything for America.
637
01:00:17,040 --> 01:00:20,000
For ten years, the country had been
battered and torn apart
638
01:00:20,000 --> 01:00:23,200
by waves of economic
and social chaos.
639
01:00:23,200 --> 01:00:27,440
Reagan set out to give the country
a new sense of purpose.
640
01:00:27,440 --> 01:00:30,240
He took all the problems,
even the most complex,
641
01:00:30,240 --> 01:00:33,040
and turned them into
reassuring moral fables.
642
01:00:34,120 --> 01:00:37,320
And abroad, the world
he depicted was one where,
643
01:00:37,320 --> 01:00:40,680
although good might struggle
with evil for a while,
644
01:00:40,680 --> 01:00:44,000
in the end, goodness and innocence
would triumph.
645
01:00:45,960 --> 01:00:48,760
We have it in our power
646
01:00:48,760 --> 01:00:51,800
to begin the world over again.
647
01:00:51,800 --> 01:00:55,960
APPLAUSE
648
01:00:55,960 --> 01:00:59,200
It was a vision of the world
that, over the next 20 years,
649
01:00:59,200 --> 01:01:03,960
would rise up to possess all of us
in the West, both left and right.
650
01:01:03,960 --> 01:01:07,560
Conflicts that, in the past, would
have been seen as political struggles
651
01:01:07,560 --> 01:01:13,360
were redefined. They became instead
battles against dark, demonic forces
652
01:01:13,360 --> 01:01:15,760
that threatened innocent people.
653
01:01:15,760 --> 01:01:18,400
And the role of we,
the good people of the West,
654
01:01:18,400 --> 01:01:21,880
was to intervene to save
those innocents.
655
01:01:23,640 --> 01:01:26,560
One of the places this dream began
was Afghanistan.
656
01:01:27,800 --> 01:01:30,040
America was already
helping the rebels
657
01:01:30,040 --> 01:01:33,600
who were fighting the Russians, but
Reagan increased the aid massively
658
01:01:33,600 --> 01:01:36,360
and made it the symbol
of his new vision.
659
01:01:36,360 --> 01:01:40,040
He even dedicated the space shuttle
to the Afghan freedom fighters.
660
01:01:43,000 --> 01:01:47,080
Just as the Columbia we think
represents man's finest aspirations
661
01:01:47,080 --> 01:01:49,880
in the field of science
and technology,
662
01:01:49,880 --> 01:01:53,240
so, too, does the struggle of the
Afghan people represent man's
663
01:01:53,240 --> 01:01:55,920
highest aspirations for freedom.
664
01:01:55,920 --> 01:02:00,680
Accordingly, I am dedicating,
on behalf of the American people,
665
01:02:00,680 --> 01:02:03,600
the March 22nd launch of the Columbia
666
01:02:03,600 --> 01:02:06,160
to the people of Afghanistan.
667
01:02:07,880 --> 01:02:10,400
But right from the beginning
there was a dangerous,
668
01:02:10,400 --> 01:02:14,080
destructive force at the very
heart of this project.
669
01:02:18,160 --> 01:02:21,120
This was because Reagan's partner
in the battle to bring freedom
670
01:02:21,120 --> 01:02:23,280
to Afghanistan was Saudi Arabia.
671
01:02:28,000 --> 01:02:32,160
The Saudi intelligence agencies
worked with the CIA to ship arms
672
01:02:32,160 --> 01:02:34,160
and money to the Afghan rebels.
673
01:02:35,440 --> 01:02:39,160
On the surface, the Saudis did this
because a fellow Muslim country
674
01:02:39,160 --> 01:02:41,840
had been invaded by communists.
675
01:02:41,840 --> 01:02:45,200
But it was also part of their attempt
to export the dangerous
676
01:02:45,200 --> 01:02:48,160
fundamentalism at the heart
of their own society.
677
01:02:50,760 --> 01:02:52,960
In 1979, a group of Saudi radicals
678
01:02:52,960 --> 01:02:55,680
had taken over the Grand Mosque in
Mecca.
679
01:02:57,040 --> 01:02:59,680
For two weeks, the authorities
had fought running battles
680
01:02:59,680 --> 01:03:02,040
with the insurgents.
681
01:03:02,040 --> 01:03:05,280
They discovered that a number
of the attackers had been taught
682
01:03:05,280 --> 01:03:07,840
by the most senior religious leader
in the country.
683
01:03:09,040 --> 01:03:11,960
It made the ruling family
realise just how fragile
684
01:03:11,960 --> 01:03:13,760
their grip on power was.
685
01:03:16,640 --> 01:03:19,600
So as well as sending
the money and the weapons,
686
01:03:19,600 --> 01:03:23,800
they encouraged young radicals
to go and fight in Afghanistan.
687
01:03:23,800 --> 01:03:26,480
One of them was a young
Osama bin Laden.
688
01:03:27,560 --> 01:03:30,520
The aim was to divert their anger.
689
01:03:30,520 --> 01:03:34,080
But it meant that with the arms
would also come the pessimistic
690
01:03:34,080 --> 01:03:37,560
and intolerant version
of Islam - Wahhabism.
691
01:03:38,800 --> 01:03:42,480
To begin with, these ideas would have
little influence in Afghanistan.
692
01:03:43,560 --> 01:03:47,920
But they would take hold there and
mutate into a dark and violent force
693
01:03:47,920 --> 01:03:51,720
that was completely at odds
with Reagan's vision of freedom.
694
01:03:55,000 --> 01:03:59,120
At the beginning, though, no-one
knew who to give the weapons to,
695
01:03:59,120 --> 01:04:02,600
and an odd group of adventurers
went into Afghanistan to find out.
696
01:04:03,920 --> 01:04:08,480
One of the first was a Texan
socialite called Joanne Herring.
697
01:04:08,480 --> 01:04:13,400
When I went in to Afghanistan -
I don't even know how I got in -
698
01:04:13,400 --> 01:04:18,160
the president of Pakistan flew me
to the border, you know,
699
01:04:18,160 --> 01:04:22,240
the no man's land that the
British created - very wisely -
700
01:04:22,240 --> 01:04:25,120
between Afghanistan and Pakistan.
701
01:04:25,120 --> 01:04:29,960
And we boarded a truck -
I put on men's clothing -
702
01:04:29,960 --> 01:04:33,360
and we got on this truck
and went somewhere.
703
01:04:40,200 --> 01:04:43,120
And we went into these camps
704
01:04:43,120 --> 01:04:46,000
and there would be these men
705
01:04:46,000 --> 01:04:51,080
with beards and turbans...
in rags, really.
706
01:04:51,080 --> 01:04:53,440
They had nothing.
707
01:04:53,440 --> 01:04:56,800
And with their 1918 Enfield rifles,
708
01:04:56,800 --> 01:04:59,640
they would stand there
and they'd say,
709
01:04:59,640 --> 01:05:01,680
"To the last drop of blood!"
710
01:05:01,680 --> 01:05:05,000
And your heart would just burst.
But I thought,
711
01:05:05,000 --> 01:05:08,720
"What will they do with an unveiled
woman coming in here?"
712
01:05:08,720 --> 01:05:10,920
And I thought, you know,
they really may kill me
713
01:05:10,920 --> 01:05:15,960
because they might not understand
why I'm here. But they did.
714
01:05:15,960 --> 01:05:18,840
They were so grateful. So grateful.
715
01:05:18,840 --> 01:05:22,720
They said, "The world doesn't know.
Thank you for coming."
716
01:05:22,720 --> 01:05:28,080
PLANES PASS OVERHEAD
717
01:05:28,080 --> 01:05:30,360
EXPLOSION
718
01:05:30,360 --> 01:05:36,480
My...heart was given
immediately to these people
719
01:05:36,480 --> 01:05:39,360
who believed so much in their god,
720
01:05:39,360 --> 01:05:41,800
and I think it's the same god...
721
01:05:43,080 --> 01:05:45,080
..as I worship.
722
01:05:45,080 --> 01:05:47,000
Just in another way.
723
01:05:52,760 --> 01:05:55,440
And they would come back and, of
course, completely exhausted
724
01:05:55,440 --> 01:05:58,600
and almost dead - those
who were still alive -
725
01:05:58,600 --> 01:06:00,760
and then this new group would say,
726
01:06:00,760 --> 01:06:03,440
"I can't wait to go out
and kill Russians."
727
01:06:05,440 --> 01:06:09,360
MAN: 'This is Radio Afghanistan
calling Europe.'
728
01:06:09,360 --> 01:06:13,480
This is Radio Afghanistan,
Kabul, and here is the news.
729
01:06:13,480 --> 01:06:17,160
43 cases of bullets
for 300 3-bore guns,
730
01:06:17,160 --> 01:06:20,040
an Egyptian Kalashnikov,
731
01:06:20,040 --> 01:06:23,480
11,300 other bullets
of various types,
732
01:06:23,480 --> 01:06:25,640
including rocket launchers and mines,
733
01:06:25,640 --> 01:06:28,680
and 170 various types of weapons,
734
01:06:28,680 --> 01:06:30,680
45 mortar shells,
735
01:06:30,680 --> 01:06:34,440
light and heavy machine guns,
typewriters and cameras,
736
01:06:34,440 --> 01:06:38,080
have recently been seized from
the counter revolutionary bandits...
737
01:07:46,200 --> 01:07:48,480
MALE REPORTER: Ask him
to speak to the daughter.
738
01:07:48,480 --> 01:07:53,800
MAN TRANSLATES
739
01:07:53,800 --> 01:07:57,040
FEMALE REPORTER: Can he give her
the flower? Give her the flower.
740
01:07:57,040 --> 01:07:59,760
MEN SPEAK OWN LANGUAGE
741
01:07:59,760 --> 01:08:01,560
MALE REPORTER: Karen, please.
742
01:08:01,560 --> 01:08:05,440
It is better if he gives her flower
than if Karen gives her the flower.
743
01:08:05,440 --> 01:08:09,640
MEN TALK OWN LANGUAGE
744
01:08:09,640 --> 01:08:13,000
Sorry. Can you do it? Ask him
to do it while I'm filming.
745
01:08:13,000 --> 01:08:14,880
Just ask him to put it down...
746
01:08:14,880 --> 01:08:19,720
MAN SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
747
01:08:19,720 --> 01:08:22,360
Yeah, yeah, yeah, OK.
748
01:08:23,560 --> 01:08:26,920
MAN SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
749
01:08:50,480 --> 01:08:52,320
EXPLOSION
750
01:09:09,160 --> 01:09:10,840
MAN COUGHS
751
01:09:10,840 --> 01:09:12,880
GUITAR PLAYS
752
01:09:39,000 --> 01:09:42,040
MAN SINGS IN OWN LANGUAGE
753
01:11:55,320 --> 01:11:59,160
In the early 1980s, the Soviet Union
was falling apart.
754
01:11:59,160 --> 01:12:02,560
The attempt to create a planned
socialist society had failed.
755
01:12:03,680 --> 01:12:07,200
It had become a stagnant world
where the shops were half empty,
756
01:12:07,200 --> 01:12:09,400
criminal gangs looted the factories,
757
01:12:09,400 --> 01:12:12,240
and no-one believed
in the system any longer.
758
01:12:21,560 --> 01:12:25,680
The ageing Soviet leaders knew
that Russian society was collapsing
759
01:12:25,680 --> 01:12:27,800
but they had no idea what to do.
760
01:12:28,880 --> 01:12:33,480
And in the face of this, Afghanistan
became, for them, a last desperate
761
01:12:33,480 --> 01:12:38,160
attempt to create a model version
of their original communist ideal.
762
01:12:43,880 --> 01:12:46,080
Faced with a growing rebellion
in the countryside,
763
01:12:46,080 --> 01:12:48,200
the Russians took over Afghanistan
764
01:12:48,200 --> 01:12:51,800
and installed another student
revolutionary as president.
765
01:12:51,800 --> 01:12:54,240
He was called Babrak Karmal
766
01:12:54,240 --> 01:12:55,880
and he did what he was told.
767
01:12:57,760 --> 01:13:01,280
And as well as the Russian troops,
thousands of teachers and doctors
768
01:13:01,280 --> 01:13:04,440
came to set up programmes and
hospitals that were going to
769
01:13:04,440 --> 01:13:07,160
transform the lives
of the Afghan people.
770
01:13:07,160 --> 01:13:09,200
SHE SINGS IN OWN LANGUAGE
771
01:13:18,560 --> 01:13:24,960
..it was 151...in the right
arm in sitting position.
772
01:13:24,960 --> 01:13:26,760
Why did you come to Afghanistan?
773
01:13:26,760 --> 01:13:31,560
Was it compulsory posting or
was it of your own free choice?
774
01:13:31,560 --> 01:13:35,400
Why...I did come to Afghanistan?
775
01:13:35,400 --> 01:13:38,480
OK, I will tell you.
776
01:13:38,480 --> 01:13:40,080
I'm doctor.
777
01:13:40,080 --> 01:13:43,200
I want to help people.
778
01:13:43,200 --> 01:13:47,440
Patient. It is the main reason
I come to Afghanistan.
779
01:13:47,440 --> 01:13:49,240
Do you say this right?
780
01:13:49,240 --> 01:13:52,400
But it was your free choice that you
came here, you were not sent here?
781
01:13:52,400 --> 01:13:55,520
Only free choice.
Only free choice.
782
01:13:57,000 --> 01:13:59,840
And Afghan women were taught
to be independent
783
01:13:59,840 --> 01:14:02,240
so they could free themselves
from the repression
784
01:14:02,240 --> 01:14:05,280
of what the Soviets saw
as a backward religion.
785
01:14:05,280 --> 01:14:07,120
You know, after the revolution,
786
01:14:07,120 --> 01:14:11,240
the woman in Afghanistan will be
same, like man, yes?
787
01:14:11,240 --> 01:14:13,440
They're the same.
788
01:14:13,440 --> 01:14:15,400
You know what I mean?
789
01:14:15,400 --> 01:14:17,480
You know, in society
790
01:14:17,480 --> 01:14:21,000
and also in economy and everything.
791
01:14:23,040 --> 01:14:25,840
But outside the cities,
the mujaheddin rebels
792
01:14:25,840 --> 01:14:27,440
increased their attacks.
793
01:14:27,440 --> 01:14:30,000
They were becoming more confident
and powerful.
794
01:14:31,000 --> 01:14:34,120
Using weapons supplied by the
Americans and the Saudis,
795
01:14:34,120 --> 01:14:36,560
they ambushed Russian convoys.
796
01:14:40,120 --> 01:14:42,160
GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS
797
01:14:53,360 --> 01:14:55,840
The mujaheddin treatment
of their Russian prisoners
798
01:14:55,840 --> 01:14:57,480
was ruthless and cruel.
799
01:15:01,160 --> 01:15:04,200
..and we captured two Russians alive.
800
01:15:04,200 --> 01:15:06,840
Then we took them to our commander.
801
01:15:06,840 --> 01:15:12,360
And then the commander told us
to stone them into death.
802
01:15:12,360 --> 01:15:16,040
And we took them and we
stoned them into death.
803
01:15:16,040 --> 01:15:18,040
- They stoned them to death?
Yes.
804
01:15:19,120 --> 01:15:24,480
Have many people here stoned Russians
or Afghan communists to death?
805
01:15:25,960 --> 01:15:30,720
MAN TRANSLATES
806
01:15:30,720 --> 01:15:32,840
MURMURS OF AGREEMENT
807
01:15:35,240 --> 01:15:39,480
In response, the Russians launched
search and destroy missions,
808
01:15:39,480 --> 01:15:41,720
often bombing whole villages,
809
01:15:41,720 --> 01:15:43,640
massacring hundreds of civilians.
810
01:15:47,120 --> 01:15:48,960
The war became a vicious struggle,
811
01:15:48,960 --> 01:15:52,640
with the mujaheddin using
equally brutal tactics.
812
01:15:52,640 --> 01:15:57,880
And any idea of transforming
Afghanistan began to slip away,
813
01:15:57,880 --> 01:15:59,920
and the Russians retreated
into the cities.
814
01:15:59,920 --> 01:16:02,960
INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER
815
01:16:06,760 --> 01:16:10,320
Comrade General, what is the military
situation in the country?
816
01:16:22,680 --> 01:16:24,840
But the rebels came into the cities
817
01:16:24,840 --> 01:16:27,560
and began to kill
the Russian civilians.
818
01:16:27,560 --> 01:16:29,680
They hid bombs in everyday objects
819
01:16:29,680 --> 01:16:31,920
that exploded the moment
anyone used them.
820
01:16:34,880 --> 01:16:38,920
Everything around the Russians
became frightening and unstable.
821
01:16:38,920 --> 01:16:42,360
The forces that they had unleashed
were pursuing them
822
01:16:42,360 --> 01:16:46,000
and as they did so they began to eat
away at the very foundations
823
01:16:46,000 --> 01:16:48,280
of Soviet communism.
824
01:16:48,280 --> 01:16:51,160
One of the bravest and most honest
of the Russian journalists
825
01:16:51,160 --> 01:16:55,000
in Afghanistan was Artyom Borovik.
826
01:16:55,000 --> 01:16:59,520
He wrote, "We thought that we were
civilising a backwards country
827
01:16:59,520 --> 01:17:04,080
"by exposing it to television,
to modern bombers, to schools,
828
01:17:04,080 --> 01:17:06,080
"to the latest models of tanks,
829
01:17:06,080 --> 01:17:08,800
"to books, to long-range artillery,
830
01:17:08,800 --> 01:17:13,920
"to newspapers, to economic aid,
to AK-47s.
831
01:17:13,920 --> 01:17:19,080
"But we rarely stopped to think
how Afghanistan would influence us,
832
01:17:19,080 --> 01:17:23,160
"despite the hundreds of thousands
of Soviet soldiers, diplomats,
833
01:17:23,160 --> 01:17:27,920
"journalists and political advisers
who passed through it.
834
01:17:27,920 --> 01:17:31,520
"They were thrown into a country
where bribery, corruption,
835
01:17:31,520 --> 01:17:34,280
"profiteering and drugs
were no less common
836
01:17:34,280 --> 01:17:37,960
"than the long lines
in Soviet stores.
837
01:17:37,960 --> 01:17:41,560
"These diseases can be far more
infectious and dangerous
838
01:17:41,560 --> 01:17:46,520
"than hepatitis, particularly when
they reach epidemic proportions."
839
01:18:15,000 --> 01:18:17,040
HE LAUGHS
840
01:18:29,960 --> 01:18:32,880
Borovik said the Russians
resembled the astronauts
841
01:18:32,880 --> 01:18:36,040
in a famous Soviet science fiction
film called Solaris.
842
01:18:37,600 --> 01:18:40,720
The astronauts find a planet
covered with a giant ocean
843
01:18:40,720 --> 01:18:43,280
that seems to be conscious.
844
01:18:43,280 --> 01:18:45,080
And to try and influence the ocean,
845
01:18:45,080 --> 01:18:46,800
they bombard it with X-rays.
846
01:18:48,040 --> 01:18:52,720
What they don't realise is that
the ocean is irradiating them.
847
01:18:52,720 --> 01:18:55,720
It is playing back,
in the astronauts' minds,
848
01:18:55,720 --> 01:18:57,520
memories of the past,
849
01:18:57,520 --> 01:19:00,560
but in such a vivid way that they
begin not to trust anything
850
01:19:00,560 --> 01:19:02,320
that they think or believe.
851
01:19:06,840 --> 01:19:08,960
Afghanistan, Borovik said,
852
01:19:08,960 --> 01:19:11,720
was doing the same to the Russians.
853
01:19:11,720 --> 01:19:16,400
It had led them to distrust the very
basis of everything they believed in.
854
01:19:16,400 --> 01:19:19,240
And they were taking that
distrust back with them
855
01:19:19,240 --> 01:19:21,760
into the heart of Russia.
856
01:22:45,400 --> 01:22:47,440
APPLAUSE ON TV
857
01:22:50,000 --> 01:22:53,520
'Could Labour have managed
a rally like this?'
858
01:22:53,520 --> 01:22:56,280
AUDIENCE: 'No!'
859
01:22:56,280 --> 01:22:59,920
'In the old days, perhaps,
but not now.
860
01:22:59,920 --> 01:23:03,080
'For they are the party of yesterday,
861
01:23:03,080 --> 01:23:05,320
'and tomorrow is ours.'
862
01:23:05,320 --> 01:23:07,320
APPLAUSE ON TV
863
01:23:07,320 --> 01:23:10,440
The massive increase in the price
of oil imposed by the Saudis
864
01:23:10,440 --> 01:23:13,400
had caused economic and
social chaos in the West.
865
01:23:14,760 --> 01:23:19,040
Governments had struggled to deal
with it, but they had failed.
866
01:23:19,040 --> 01:23:22,840
And in the 1980s, right-wing
governments came to power in Britain
867
01:23:22,840 --> 01:23:27,080
and America who turned to radical
new ways to create economic growth.
868
01:23:29,280 --> 01:23:32,560
To begin with, the new
policies seemed to work.
869
01:23:32,560 --> 01:23:35,080
Inflation was squeezed
out of the system
870
01:23:35,080 --> 01:23:37,040
and the economies began to stabilise.
871
01:23:40,840 --> 01:23:44,320
But then there were other
unexpected consequences.
872
01:23:44,320 --> 01:23:46,440
Interest rates had risen massively -
873
01:23:46,440 --> 01:23:50,560
and this decimated manufacturing
industry in both Britain and America.
874
01:23:51,840 --> 01:23:54,000
Factory after factory closed.
875
01:23:55,240 --> 01:23:58,760
High-paid skilled jobs
were replaced by low-wage jobs
876
01:23:58,760 --> 01:24:01,200
in the service industries,
877
01:24:01,200 --> 01:24:02,960
and living standards began to fall.
878
01:24:05,560 --> 01:24:08,200
But then the politicians
found a solution.
879
01:24:08,200 --> 01:24:11,040
If you couldn't make wages
grow any longer,
880
01:24:11,040 --> 01:24:13,600
instead you would get the banks
to lend people money.
881
01:24:15,040 --> 01:24:18,000
And in the mid-1980s, governments
removed the restrictions
882
01:24:18,000 --> 01:24:20,080
on the banks' lending,
883
01:24:20,080 --> 01:24:23,320
and a wave of borrowing spread
through Britain and America.
884
01:24:24,560 --> 01:24:29,080
Even if their wages were static,
people felt wealthier,
885
01:24:29,080 --> 01:24:34,040
and had the money to buy things
and keep the economy working.
886
01:24:34,040 --> 01:24:38,280
And the power to manage society began
to move even more from politics
887
01:24:38,280 --> 01:24:40,160
to the financial system.
888
01:24:47,600 --> 01:24:50,680
Weapons free, battle stations.
889
01:24:50,680 --> 01:24:52,680
Weapons free, weapons free.
890
01:24:59,440 --> 01:25:02,280
But there was one industry
in Britain that had survived
891
01:25:02,280 --> 01:25:04,360
and, in fact, was growing.
892
01:25:04,360 --> 01:25:08,240
It was the arms industry and
its vast trade with Saudi Arabia.
893
01:25:09,520 --> 01:25:12,160
But rather than strengthening
the politicians' power,
894
01:25:12,160 --> 01:25:15,040
it undermined it further,
through corruption.
895
01:25:16,440 --> 01:25:18,840
REPORTER: The King's train
was 20 minutes late
896
01:25:18,840 --> 01:25:20,640
arriving at Victoria Station.
897
01:25:20,640 --> 01:25:23,920
It was delayed while a suspicious
box on a bridge over the track
898
01:25:23,920 --> 01:25:27,160
was checked, and found
to be harmless.
899
01:25:27,160 --> 01:25:29,400
When he eventually stepped
on to the platform,
900
01:25:29,400 --> 01:25:32,040
it was to a full royal welcome.
901
01:25:32,040 --> 01:25:35,040
ADAM CURTIS: Through the 1970s,
British arms companies had signed
902
01:25:35,040 --> 01:25:38,080
more and more contracts
with the Saudis,
903
01:25:38,080 --> 01:25:40,760
and they became a central
part of a new industry
904
01:25:40,760 --> 01:25:44,040
that was run from the very
heart of the British government.
905
01:25:46,360 --> 01:25:50,000
We're in the Ministry of Defence
in Whitehall.
906
01:25:50,000 --> 01:25:52,480
Behind these doors there's a room.
907
01:25:52,480 --> 01:25:55,360
A room which few people
apart from Arab Sheiks
908
01:25:55,360 --> 01:25:59,560
and other potential foreign customers
have ever set eyes on before.
909
01:26:04,360 --> 01:26:05,760
This way, please.
910
01:26:05,760 --> 01:26:10,040
This is it, the permanent
Defence Equipment Exhibition,
911
01:26:10,040 --> 01:26:13,480
the supermarket of the sales
organisation which this year
912
01:26:13,480 --> 01:26:17,520
will sell nearly ?600 million
worth of British military hardware
913
01:26:17,520 --> 01:26:19,520
to foreign governments.
914
01:26:19,520 --> 01:26:23,680
Week in, week out, overseas service
chiefs come here discreetly
915
01:26:23,680 --> 01:26:27,280
to shop for anything from guided
missile destroyers and aircraft
916
01:26:27,280 --> 01:26:29,040
to a pair of army boots.
917
01:26:29,040 --> 01:26:31,120
And they've got quite a choice.
918
01:26:31,120 --> 01:26:33,720
There are hundreds of individual
British manufacturers
919
01:26:33,720 --> 01:26:37,560
in this business. Glossy coloured
brochures in every language,
920
01:26:37,560 --> 01:26:39,520
including, of course, Arabic.
921
01:26:39,520 --> 01:26:42,840
Everywhere in this amazing exhibition
there are models showing
922
01:26:42,840 --> 01:26:46,320
the hardware in action,
showing what the hardware can do.
923
01:26:46,320 --> 01:26:48,160
Big missiles, little missiles -
924
01:26:48,160 --> 01:26:51,560
here's the short blowpipe
surface-to-air missile with which
925
01:26:51,560 --> 01:26:54,400
one soldier can bring
an aircraft out of the sky,
926
01:26:54,400 --> 01:26:56,000
straight from the shoulder.
927
01:26:56,000 --> 01:26:59,120
More missiles here,
the short Tigercat missile,
928
01:26:59,120 --> 01:27:04,360
simple in operation, recommended
for its high lethality at low cost.
929
01:27:04,360 --> 01:27:07,240
Aircraft are very expensive
these days
930
01:27:07,240 --> 01:27:10,160
and so you don't want them
to have just one...
931
01:27:10,160 --> 01:27:14,000
ADAM CURTIS: By the 1980s, the giant
orders from Saudi Arabia
932
01:27:14,000 --> 01:27:16,240
had become essential to Britain.
933
01:27:16,240 --> 01:27:18,760
While much of British
industry had closed,
934
01:27:18,760 --> 01:27:21,120
the arms business kept growing.
935
01:27:21,120 --> 01:27:22,680
..from air to ground.
936
01:27:22,680 --> 01:27:24,720
No, no, no, I'm the Prime Minister.
937
01:27:24,720 --> 01:27:27,320
I have to see the super
saleswomen do their job.
938
01:27:27,320 --> 01:27:30,720
ADAM CURTIS: And in 1985 Mrs Thatcher
announced what was going to be
939
01:27:30,720 --> 01:27:32,840
the biggest arms deal in history.
940
01:27:36,800 --> 01:27:38,480
The extraordinary arms deal,
941
01:27:38,480 --> 01:27:41,080
which has impressed military experts
throughout the world.
942
01:27:41,080 --> 01:27:43,680
It emerged today that Britain
and Saudi Arabia have signed
943
01:27:43,680 --> 01:27:46,680
what's thought to be one of
the biggest arms agreements.
944
01:27:46,680 --> 01:27:49,680
The deal will mean Saudi Arabia
will get many more combat planes,
945
01:27:49,680 --> 01:27:53,320
training aircraft, new mine hunters,
two new airbases,
946
01:27:53,320 --> 01:27:55,000
and much training and support.
947
01:27:55,000 --> 01:27:57,880
It means Britain is pulling
level with, if not overtaking,
948
01:27:57,880 --> 01:28:01,440
the United States as the biggest
military supplier to the Saudis.
949
01:28:01,440 --> 01:28:04,920
ADAM CURTIS: The Al-Yamamah deal
was presented as a triumph
950
01:28:04,920 --> 01:28:08,160
of British ingenuity and skill.
951
01:28:08,160 --> 01:28:11,480
But ever since, there have been
allegations that really it was
952
01:28:11,480 --> 01:28:15,440
secured by vast bribes to key members
of the Saudi establishment.
953
01:28:16,960 --> 01:28:19,920
British Aerospace admit
that there were payments,
954
01:28:19,920 --> 01:28:22,480
but insist they were not bribes.
955
01:28:24,560 --> 01:28:26,840
But then, in 1990,
956
01:28:26,840 --> 01:28:30,480
it became clear that all the
arms trade with Saudi Arabia
957
01:28:30,480 --> 01:28:32,320
had been a complete charade.
958
01:28:33,960 --> 01:28:36,160
Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait
959
01:28:36,160 --> 01:28:38,880
and the leaders of Saudi Arabia
realised that,
960
01:28:38,880 --> 01:28:42,560
despite all this hardware -
all the planes, the missiles,
961
01:28:42,560 --> 01:28:44,640
the bombs and the radar systems -
962
01:28:44,640 --> 01:28:49,240
that their country was incapable of
using it properly to defend itself
963
01:28:49,240 --> 01:28:51,720
against Saddam Hussein.
964
01:28:51,720 --> 01:28:56,040
So they had to turn to America
and its military might for help.
965
01:29:03,280 --> 01:29:07,320
At my direction, elements
of the 82nd Airborne Division,
966
01:29:07,320 --> 01:29:10,600
as well as key units of the
United States Air Force,
967
01:29:10,600 --> 01:29:16,000
are arriving today to take up
defensive positions in Saudi Arabia.
968
01:29:16,000 --> 01:29:19,520
I took this action to assist
the Saudi Arabian government
969
01:29:19,520 --> 01:29:22,400
in the defence of its homeland.
970
01:29:22,400 --> 01:29:25,680
Osama bin Laden had
returned from Afghanistan
971
01:29:25,680 --> 01:29:29,480
and he went to see the Saudi Defence
Minister and pleaded with him
972
01:29:29,480 --> 01:29:32,280
not to let the Americans come.
973
01:29:32,280 --> 01:29:36,120
He offered to raise a force of
mujaheddin fighters in Afghanistan
974
01:29:36,120 --> 01:29:38,800
and bring them to defend
Saudi Arabia instead.
975
01:29:40,240 --> 01:29:43,560
But the Defence Minister
turned him down.
976
01:29:43,560 --> 01:29:46,680
And within weeks, over
half a million American soldiers
977
01:29:46,680 --> 01:29:50,000
had arrived in Saudi Arabia.
978
01:29:50,000 --> 01:29:53,560
Bin Laden saw it as the corrupt
takeover by the West
979
01:29:53,560 --> 01:29:55,400
of the very heart of Islam.
980
01:29:57,720 --> 01:30:00,640
Cameraman, please show them
what's going on, if you could.
981
01:30:00,640 --> 01:30:02,120
Show the street, if nothing else.
982
01:30:02,120 --> 01:30:05,160
ADAM CURTIS: And he decided that
America, although it had been
983
01:30:05,160 --> 01:30:08,000
his ally in Afghanistan,
was the real enemy.
984
01:30:13,640 --> 01:30:15,480
Show them the sky, if you could.
985
01:31:10,080 --> 01:31:13,120
GENTLE CLASSICAL MUSIC PLAYS
986
01:31:13,120 --> 01:31:16,560
No, wait, what strange noise is that?
987
01:31:16,560 --> 01:31:18,600
MUSIC CONTINUES
988
01:31:22,400 --> 01:31:24,400
What trickery is this?
989
01:31:32,280 --> 01:31:35,800
You, up there, what is this noise?
Can you see what is happening?
990
01:31:35,800 --> 01:31:38,280
Oh, yes, they are sitting down
to dinner.
991
01:31:38,280 --> 01:31:41,840
Sitting down to dinner?
Are they stark raving bonkers?
992
01:31:41,840 --> 01:31:44,320
These people, sometimes,
they infuriate me!
993
01:31:44,320 --> 01:31:47,000
Oh, they come out here
with their starched uniforms
994
01:31:47,000 --> 01:31:51,360
and their stiff upper lips and their
dirty great flags hanging out.
995
01:31:51,360 --> 01:31:54,240
- Think they own the place!
- They do.
996
01:31:54,240 --> 01:31:57,280
Well, they won't much longer.
Start the attack!
997
01:31:57,280 --> 01:32:00,280
By the time I've finished with them,
their stiff upper lips will be
998
01:32:00,280 --> 01:32:02,920
so limp they'll be hanging down
to their navels.
999
01:32:02,920 --> 01:32:06,360
I will kill the pigs! Fire!
1000
01:32:06,360 --> 01:32:08,560
GUNFIRE AND EXPLOSIONS
1001
01:32:10,080 --> 01:32:12,480
INDISTINCT SHOUTING
1002
01:32:12,480 --> 01:32:14,000
Fuckin' hell!
1003
01:32:14,000 --> 01:32:16,200
GUNFIRE
1004
01:32:16,200 --> 01:32:18,520
INDISTINCT SHOUTING
1005
01:32:18,520 --> 01:32:20,320
EXPLOSION
1006
01:32:20,320 --> 01:32:23,920
- Jesus, fucking target...
- Right!
1007
01:32:23,920 --> 01:32:28,240
GUNFIRE CONTINUES
1008
01:32:28,240 --> 01:32:30,720
SHOUTING CONTINUES
1009
01:32:40,880 --> 01:32:44,520
I'm not denying that I'm not a
mullah, I'm a mullah in a mosque.
1010
01:32:44,520 --> 01:32:46,880
- Not with the Taliban.
- Right, yeah.
1011
01:32:46,880 --> 01:32:49,360
So, I mean, they arrest me
and they brought me here...
1012
01:32:49,360 --> 01:32:51,680
Did he say they were...
Did he say they beat him?
1013
01:32:51,680 --> 01:32:54,120
Beat him and electrocution, yeah.
1014
01:32:54,120 --> 01:32:56,120
Signed a false confession?
1015
01:32:56,120 --> 01:32:58,840
Does he say they forced him
to sign a confession?
1016
01:32:58,840 --> 01:33:00,560
No, no, he didn't say that.
1017
01:33:00,560 --> 01:33:06,440
THEY SPEAK OWN LANGUAGE
1018
01:33:06,440 --> 01:33:10,080
TRANSLATOR: Yeah, I mean, they
force me, they beat me
1019
01:33:10,080 --> 01:33:12,480
and they put my stamp,
1020
01:33:12,480 --> 01:33:14,480
saying that you are talib.
1021
01:33:14,480 --> 01:33:19,240
Does he know... Does he know - are
there lots of Taliban here?
1022
01:33:19,240 --> 01:33:24,160
HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
1023
01:33:24,160 --> 01:33:26,480
TRANSLATOR: Well, I mean,
as I have told you before,
1024
01:33:26,480 --> 01:33:29,280
it's 90% of the people who are here,
1025
01:33:29,280 --> 01:33:33,720
they came by the name of Taliban here
but they are not actually Taliban.
1026
01:33:33,720 --> 01:33:36,400
They arrest them
and they brought them here.
1027
01:33:47,800 --> 01:33:50,040
When the Russians left Afghanistan,
1028
01:33:50,040 --> 01:33:52,640
the different mujaheddin groups
turned on each other
1029
01:33:52,640 --> 01:33:54,880
and began a vicious struggle
for power.
1030
01:33:56,200 --> 01:33:59,600
Kabul was completely destroyed
as the different groups fired
1031
01:33:59,600 --> 01:34:04,360
thousands of rockets indiscriminately
into the heart of the city.
1032
01:34:04,360 --> 01:34:06,520
And Kabul became a living hell.
1033
01:34:13,040 --> 01:34:15,400
PEOPLE SHOUT
1034
01:34:15,400 --> 01:34:18,440
SHE SHOUTS IN OWN LANGUAGE
1035
01:34:40,280 --> 01:34:42,480
EXPLOSION
1036
01:34:42,480 --> 01:34:44,000
MAN: Jesus Christ.
1037
01:35:02,120 --> 01:35:04,880
The mujaheddin leaders transformed.
1038
01:35:04,880 --> 01:35:08,360
They became brutal warlords,
tearing the country apart.
1039
01:35:10,360 --> 01:35:13,480
The Americans had stopped
sending any money or arms,
1040
01:35:13,480 --> 01:35:17,840
so to fund themselves, the warlords
turned to the heroin trade,
1041
01:35:17,840 --> 01:35:21,640
and they began to export more
and more opium to the West.
1042
01:35:23,760 --> 01:35:25,720
The poppy fields of Helmand
1043
01:35:25,720 --> 01:35:28,880
became the centre of a
multimillion-dollar business,
1044
01:35:28,880 --> 01:35:31,240
irrigated by the dams and canals
1045
01:35:31,240 --> 01:35:34,320
built 40 years before
by the American government.
1046
01:35:37,320 --> 01:35:41,840
Out of the chaos came two extreme
and violent reactions.
1047
01:35:41,840 --> 01:35:44,640
Both ruthlessly simplified the world
1048
01:35:44,640 --> 01:35:48,000
and both, although they were
completely contradictory,
1049
01:35:48,000 --> 01:35:50,560
were rooted in Wahhabism,
1050
01:35:50,560 --> 01:35:54,680
the intolerant fundamentalism
that came from Saudi Arabia.
1051
01:35:54,680 --> 01:35:57,480
One was the Taliban.
1052
01:35:57,480 --> 01:36:01,400
They started as a group of students
in religious schools in Pakistan
1053
01:36:01,400 --> 01:36:05,200
called madrassas, where many Afghan
children had gone to study.
1054
01:36:06,480 --> 01:36:08,720
They became the core of a revolution
1055
01:36:08,720 --> 01:36:11,320
that spread rapidly through
Afghanistan.
1056
01:36:41,880 --> 01:36:45,800
Although they were in Pakistan, most
of the madrassas had been created
1057
01:36:45,800 --> 01:36:49,840
over the previous 20 years
by money from Saudi Arabia.
1058
01:36:49,840 --> 01:36:54,000
They were part of the massive effort
that had been started by King Faisal
1059
01:36:54,000 --> 01:36:57,600
to spread fundamentalism
throughout the Islamic world.
1060
01:36:57,600 --> 01:37:00,040
And the ideas that
the madrassas taught
1061
01:37:00,040 --> 01:37:03,040
were very close to
Saudi Wahhabism.
1062
01:37:07,960 --> 01:37:12,560
When the Taliban swept into Kabul,
they went to the Presidential Palace
1063
01:37:12,560 --> 01:37:15,840
and tore out all painted images
of living things,
1064
01:37:15,840 --> 01:37:19,080
even removing the faces
off the stone lions.
1065
01:37:21,640 --> 01:37:25,600
The society the Taliban built
was based on an imagined idea
1066
01:37:25,600 --> 01:37:30,080
of the past, a re-creation of how
they thought Islamic society
1067
01:37:30,080 --> 01:37:33,160
had been run in the 7th century.
1068
01:37:33,160 --> 01:37:36,160
All modernization was swept away.
1069
01:37:36,160 --> 01:37:38,280
Women were not to be educated,
1070
01:37:38,280 --> 01:37:40,760
and all film and music was banned.
1071
01:37:47,920 --> 01:37:51,480
And even the bodies of dead
communists were dug up and burnt -
1072
01:37:51,480 --> 01:37:53,880
to cleanse and purify the land.
1073
01:37:59,200 --> 01:38:03,440
The other reaction came from
Osama bin Laden.
1074
01:38:03,440 --> 01:38:05,600
Bin Laden had come back to
Afghanistan
1075
01:38:05,600 --> 01:38:08,840
determined to lead
an Islamist revolution.
1076
01:38:08,840 --> 01:38:12,360
But his ideas were very
different from the Taliban.
1077
01:38:12,360 --> 01:38:16,320
He wanted to use Islamic principles
in a new way -
1078
01:38:16,320 --> 01:38:19,440
to make it a revolutionary force
in the modern world,
1079
01:38:19,440 --> 01:38:22,080
to go forwards, not backwards.
1080
01:38:23,720 --> 01:38:25,680
But the problem was that these ideas
1081
01:38:25,680 --> 01:38:28,440
had failed to capture
the public imagination,
1082
01:38:28,440 --> 01:38:30,640
not just in Afghanistan
1083
01:38:30,640 --> 01:38:32,840
but throughout most of
the Islamic world.
1084
01:38:34,320 --> 01:38:37,520
Bin Laden was convinced that what was
stopping this revolution
1085
01:38:37,520 --> 01:38:39,520
was America.
1086
01:38:39,520 --> 01:38:43,880
He had seen how American money
had corrupted Saudi Arabia.
1087
01:38:43,880 --> 01:38:47,920
Now he believed that America was
corrupting the minds of Muslim people
1088
01:38:47,920 --> 01:38:52,160
everywhere, and preventing them from
rising up and liberating themselves.
1089
01:38:52,160 --> 01:38:56,240
HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
1090
01:38:56,240 --> 01:38:59,520
Bin Laden's Islamist ideas
began to mutate
1091
01:38:59,520 --> 01:39:02,040
and become mixed with the intolerant
1092
01:39:02,040 --> 01:39:05,400
and anti-modern anger of Wahhabism.
1093
01:39:05,400 --> 01:39:09,760
Out of it came a dark
and apocalyptic jihadism.
1094
01:39:09,760 --> 01:39:12,880
It said that the only way
to create a revolution
1095
01:39:12,880 --> 01:39:17,440
would be to attack what he called
"the far enemy" directly.
1096
01:39:17,440 --> 01:39:21,600
The dramatic shock would somehow
liberate the masses,
1097
01:39:21,600 --> 01:39:26,440
but all discussion of what kind of
society would result dropped away,
1098
01:39:26,440 --> 01:39:29,960
and was replaced by stark vision
of the coming battle
1099
01:39:29,960 --> 01:39:32,040
between good and evil.
1100
01:42:51,520 --> 01:42:53,560
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
1101
01:43:01,680 --> 01:43:04,720
CROWD CHANTS
1102
01:44:25,040 --> 01:44:28,120
America and the coalition forces
invaded Afghanistan
1103
01:44:28,120 --> 01:44:31,040
not just to find those behind
the attacks on America
1104
01:44:31,040 --> 01:44:34,200
but also to transform Afghanistan
1105
01:44:34,200 --> 01:44:36,640
into a modern democracy.
1106
01:44:36,640 --> 01:44:38,800
It was a grand plan
1107
01:44:38,800 --> 01:44:41,880
but the logic behind it was simple.
1108
01:44:41,880 --> 01:44:44,960
If the innocent people of Afghanistan
could be liberated
1109
01:44:44,960 --> 01:44:47,920
from the evil forces
that had terrorised them,
1110
01:44:47,920 --> 01:44:50,880
then they would become
free individuals.
1111
01:44:50,880 --> 01:44:52,960
And out of that, a democracy,
1112
01:44:52,960 --> 01:44:55,440
like those in the West,
would grow naturally.
1113
01:44:59,640 --> 01:45:03,120
Tens of thousands of Americans
and Europeans would pass through
1114
01:45:03,120 --> 01:45:05,600
the country over the next ten years -
1115
01:45:05,600 --> 01:45:08,480
soldiers, diplomats, experts,
1116
01:45:08,480 --> 01:45:11,320
political advisers and journalists.
1117
01:45:11,320 --> 01:45:14,440
All of them trying to
build this new society.
1118
01:45:16,040 --> 01:45:19,080
But few of them stopped to think
whether what had happened
1119
01:45:19,080 --> 01:45:21,280
to the Russians 20 years before
1120
01:45:21,280 --> 01:45:23,720
might also happen to them.
1121
01:45:23,720 --> 01:45:28,600
That, in a strange way, Afghanistan
has revealed to us the emptiness
1122
01:45:28,600 --> 01:45:31,480
and hypocrisy of many our beliefs.
1123
01:45:31,480 --> 01:45:34,360
And that we may be
returning from there
1124
01:45:34,360 --> 01:45:37,280
also haunted by mujaheddin ghosts,
1125
01:45:37,280 --> 01:45:40,920
knowing that, underneath,
we believe in nothing.
1126
01:46:07,160 --> 01:46:11,320
After the shock of the attacks in
September 2001, the greatest fear
1127
01:46:11,320 --> 01:46:13,960
was that the American economy
might collapse as well.
1128
01:46:15,520 --> 01:46:19,280
In response, the politicians,
advised by their economic experts,
1129
01:46:19,280 --> 01:46:22,320
cut interest rates to almost zero.
1130
01:46:22,320 --> 01:46:24,840
This allowed cheap money
to flood through the system
1131
01:46:24,840 --> 01:46:26,720
and avoid disaster.
1132
01:46:26,720 --> 01:46:29,760
The banks lent money
to anyone and everyone.
1133
01:46:31,000 --> 01:46:33,960
It was the politicians looking to
the financial system
1134
01:46:33,960 --> 01:46:35,800
to stabilise the country.
1135
01:46:39,400 --> 01:46:42,280
SHE TALKS IN OWN LANGUAGE
1136
01:46:42,280 --> 01:46:45,560
At the same time, thousands
of experts and advisers
1137
01:46:45,560 --> 01:46:47,840
flooded into Afghanistan.
1138
01:46:47,840 --> 01:46:53,160
Their aim was to transform the
country into a modern democracy.
1139
01:46:53,160 --> 01:46:55,960
This optimistic vision
of a future Afghanistan
1140
01:46:55,960 --> 01:46:58,960
was celebrated in the Kabul Stadium.
1141
01:46:58,960 --> 01:47:02,040
It was the same stadium where the
Russians had celebrated
1142
01:47:02,040 --> 01:47:05,440
their new model for Afghanistan
20 years before.
1143
01:47:06,600 --> 01:47:11,480
Last year we think that we can never
can be alive again, we will die.
1144
01:47:11,480 --> 01:47:15,400
But now we are...we are thinking
that we are alive again,
1145
01:47:15,400 --> 01:47:17,080
and we are too happy.
1146
01:47:17,080 --> 01:47:20,480
And also, from America,
that they help a lot,
1147
01:47:20,480 --> 01:47:24,520
we are very appreciative of them.
Thanks a lot.
1148
01:47:24,520 --> 01:47:26,840
I think now everything is normal.
1149
01:47:26,840 --> 01:47:30,320
The man and woman
can work in one place
1150
01:47:30,320 --> 01:47:32,680
and no any different between them,
1151
01:47:32,680 --> 01:47:37,360
and I think everything is going
to...good day by day.
1152
01:47:37,360 --> 01:47:40,120
- And this is our school...
- That's your school board.
1153
01:47:40,120 --> 01:47:42,280
- Yeah.
- OK.
1154
01:47:42,280 --> 01:47:44,840
Actually, can I just... Hello? Hello?
1155
01:47:44,840 --> 01:47:48,680
ADAM CURTIS: All kinds of groups
came to Kabul to help the project.
1156
01:47:48,680 --> 01:47:52,720
It was like a snapshot of what those
in power in America and Britain
1157
01:47:52,720 --> 01:47:54,840
believed made democracy work.
1158
01:47:56,840 --> 01:48:00,000
As well as the obvious lessons
in how to organise elections
1159
01:48:00,000 --> 01:48:04,000
and conferences on how to stop
the narcotics trade,
1160
01:48:04,000 --> 01:48:06,960
young Afghan students
were also given lessons
1161
01:48:06,960 --> 01:48:09,360
in how to make conceptual art.
1162
01:48:13,640 --> 01:48:16,200
So, this is, in some ways,
1163
01:48:16,200 --> 01:48:18,960
often called the first
piece of conceptual art.
1164
01:48:18,960 --> 01:48:23,000
MAN TRANSLATES
1165
01:48:26,840 --> 01:48:29,240
Does anyone know what it is?
1166
01:48:29,240 --> 01:48:31,200
MAN TRANSLATES
1167
01:48:31,200 --> 01:48:33,160
I don't expect the ladies to know.
1168
01:48:33,160 --> 01:48:35,240
MAN TRANSLATES
1169
01:48:35,240 --> 01:48:38,240
MAN: Toilets.
- Exactly.
1170
01:48:38,240 --> 01:48:41,440
An artist called Marcel Duchamp,
1171
01:48:41,440 --> 01:48:43,800
who's very important in Western art,
1172
01:48:43,800 --> 01:48:48,120
put this toilet in an art gallery
1173
01:48:48,120 --> 01:48:50,160
about 100 years ago.
1174
01:48:50,160 --> 01:48:52,400
It was a huge revolution.
1175
01:48:52,400 --> 01:48:56,120
Are you ready to see how it is used?
1176
01:49:17,480 --> 01:49:20,040
Underlying it all was a belief
that the battle
1177
01:49:20,040 --> 01:49:22,200
was to create a good society,
1178
01:49:22,200 --> 01:49:25,280
one that would be strong enough
to stand against the bad,
1179
01:49:25,280 --> 01:49:28,880
anti-democratic forces that had
overwhelmed Afghanistan.
1180
01:49:30,320 --> 01:49:33,480
But then it began
to get confusing.
1181
01:49:33,480 --> 01:49:37,000
The Americans discovered that was it
was very difficult to know exactly
1182
01:49:37,000 --> 01:49:40,120
who was good and who was bad.
1183
01:49:40,120 --> 01:49:43,680
When they had invaded, they had
been helped by Afghans
1184
01:49:43,680 --> 01:49:47,160
who were already
fighting the Taliban.
1185
01:49:47,160 --> 01:49:51,120
The Americans had assumed they would
help to create the new democracy,
1186
01:49:51,120 --> 01:49:54,600
and appointed many of them
to run the country.
1187
01:49:54,600 --> 01:49:58,280
But now it turned out that many of
them were actually the very same
1188
01:49:58,280 --> 01:50:02,280
corrupt and violent warlords
who the Taliban had overthrown.
1189
01:50:03,280 --> 01:50:05,440
And they were using their new power
1190
01:50:05,440 --> 01:50:08,040
to terrorise the country
all over again.
1191
01:50:12,240 --> 01:50:15,960
Gul Agha Sherzai had been made
Governor of Kandahar.
1192
01:50:15,960 --> 01:50:18,920
But he was also alleged to be
making a million dollars a week
1193
01:50:18,920 --> 01:50:20,920
from running the opium trade,
1194
01:50:20,920 --> 01:50:24,280
while at the same time siphoning
off millions from the Americans
1195
01:50:24,280 --> 01:50:26,720
in inflated contracts.
1196
01:50:26,720 --> 01:50:30,480
When President Karzai was persuaded
to remove Sherzai,
1197
01:50:30,480 --> 01:50:34,440
he simply made him governor
of another province.
1198
01:50:34,440 --> 01:50:36,280
But he was not alone.
1199
01:50:36,280 --> 01:50:40,760
Throughout much of Afghanistan,
the warlords had returned to power.
1200
01:50:40,760 --> 01:50:42,600
But this time it was worse.
1201
01:50:42,600 --> 01:50:47,000
The massive influx of American money
allowed them to extend their networks
1202
01:50:47,000 --> 01:50:50,960
of bribery and corruption to every
corner of Afghan society.
1203
01:51:28,040 --> 01:51:30,800
But the money was not just
corrupting individuals.
1204
01:51:30,800 --> 01:51:33,920
It was undermining the whole
structure of society,
1205
01:51:33,920 --> 01:51:36,160
above all the police.
1206
01:51:36,160 --> 01:51:38,040
Rather than enforcing the law,
1207
01:51:38,040 --> 01:51:41,120
the police had become transformed
into violent militias
1208
01:51:41,120 --> 01:51:44,040
who worked for the warlords.
1209
01:51:44,040 --> 01:51:47,560
They organised a massive
expansion of the drug trade.
1210
01:51:47,560 --> 01:51:49,920
And they also terrorised
the local people.
1211
01:51:51,200 --> 01:51:53,800
Ordinary Afghans came to
hate the police
1212
01:51:53,800 --> 01:51:55,880
and they saw them as the enemy.
1213
01:52:08,640 --> 01:52:11,880
And the Americans also weren't
as good as they appeared.
1214
01:52:18,520 --> 01:52:20,920
Jack Idema had been
portrayed as a hero,
1215
01:52:20,920 --> 01:52:24,080
working with the US Special Forces
to hunt down bin Laden.
1216
01:52:25,480 --> 01:52:29,560
He had arrived in Kabul three years
before and become a legendary figure.
1217
01:52:33,280 --> 01:52:37,160
CBS television had made an hour-long
special about the secret world
1218
01:52:37,160 --> 01:52:41,040
of terror that Idema had
discovered in the mountains.
1219
01:52:41,040 --> 01:52:45,480
It showed a tape that he said he had
found of the Al-Qaeda group training.
1220
01:52:47,560 --> 01:52:50,360
But then Idema was arrested.
1221
01:52:50,360 --> 01:52:52,920
The Americans said
that he was a fake.
1222
01:52:52,920 --> 01:52:56,680
He had nothing to do with them,
and had conned CBS.
1223
01:52:56,680 --> 01:52:59,240
They alleged that
Idema had a dungeon,
1224
01:52:59,240 --> 01:53:01,360
hidden underneath his house in Kabul,
1225
01:53:01,360 --> 01:53:03,560
where he tortured innocent Afghans.
1226
01:53:14,360 --> 01:53:18,240
Tell him, basically I'm tired
of the lies. Where's his village?
1227
01:53:19,520 --> 01:53:22,400
In three minutes...he'll be dead.
1228
01:53:25,000 --> 01:53:28,560
MAN SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
1229
01:53:35,040 --> 01:53:37,480
Idema was put on trial in Kabul.
1230
01:53:37,480 --> 01:53:40,920
He insisted, though, he had been
working with the highest levels
1231
01:53:40,920 --> 01:53:43,120
of the US military and government.
1232
01:53:50,520 --> 01:53:52,320
I know what's wrong with you...
1233
01:53:52,320 --> 01:53:54,320
Jack, who are you working for?
1234
01:53:54,320 --> 01:53:56,880
Uh, we were working for the
US Counter-Terrorist Group
1235
01:53:56,880 --> 01:54:00,040
and working with the Pentagon
and some other federal agencies.
1236
01:54:00,040 --> 01:54:02,240
So you were working with
US knowledge,
1237
01:54:02,240 --> 01:54:04,040
with US government knowledge?
1238
01:54:04,040 --> 01:54:07,040
We were in touch with the Pentagon
sometimes five times a day,
1239
01:54:07,040 --> 01:54:09,000
at the highest level, every day.
1240
01:54:09,000 --> 01:54:12,400
How do you feel about being
sort of let go by the Americans?
1241
01:54:12,400 --> 01:54:13,720
Fucked.
1242
01:54:15,240 --> 01:54:16,920
You can't use that quote.
1243
01:54:16,920 --> 01:54:20,400
Well, there you go,
that's the quote, my dear.
1244
01:54:20,400 --> 01:54:22,160
This government and our government
1245
01:54:22,160 --> 01:54:24,360
knew every single thing
we were doing.
1246
01:54:24,360 --> 01:54:27,960
ADAM CURTIS: Jack Idema was found
guilty and sent to jail.
1247
01:54:27,960 --> 01:54:31,160
But then it got even more confusing.
1248
01:54:31,160 --> 01:54:34,160
Because reports emerged that
the real American military
1249
01:54:34,160 --> 01:54:37,920
had been doing exactly
the same as Jack Idema.
1250
01:54:37,920 --> 01:54:41,640
They had set up a special torture
centre in an old Soviet hangar
1251
01:54:41,640 --> 01:54:44,240
at Bagram Air Base.
1252
01:54:44,240 --> 01:54:46,760
Ordinary Afghans were
shackled to the ceiling
1253
01:54:46,760 --> 01:54:49,320
and subjected to all
kinds of violent abuse.
1254
01:54:51,240 --> 01:54:53,920
But they went further
than Jack Idema.
1255
01:54:53,920 --> 01:54:57,680
The reports said that two of the
victims had been tortured to death.
1256
01:55:04,040 --> 01:55:06,080
Of course, it was very provocative.
1257
01:55:06,080 --> 01:55:09,200
People were very angry, and I think
it's important to understand
1258
01:55:09,200 --> 01:55:12,280
that when this kind of art emerged
1259
01:55:12,280 --> 01:55:14,240
it was partly political.
1260
01:55:14,240 --> 01:55:17,360
It was to fight against
the system and say,
1261
01:55:17,360 --> 01:55:20,000
"What is art is what I think it is."
1262
01:55:35,360 --> 01:55:38,880
One of the biggest concerns
we have is about the casualties
1263
01:55:38,880 --> 01:55:41,360
that took place because of
the result of cluster bombs.
1264
01:55:41,360 --> 01:55:42,880
OK, that's fine.
1265
01:55:42,880 --> 01:55:45,040
- OK, is that fly going to...?
- That fly.
1266
01:55:45,040 --> 01:55:47,400
- You can hear it, actually.
- You can, can't you?
1267
01:55:47,400 --> 01:55:49,840
FLY BUZZES
It's a blowie.
1268
01:55:49,840 --> 01:55:53,800
- It'll land.
- It's a blowie. Fuck off.
1269
01:55:53,800 --> 01:55:55,200
It's a bug.
1270
01:55:56,520 --> 01:55:57,760
Ah...
1271
01:56:00,720 --> 01:56:03,120
THUMP!
1272
01:56:03,120 --> 01:56:05,600
LAUGHING: This is an interview
about casualties.
1273
01:56:05,600 --> 01:56:08,160
There's going to be one more.
1274
01:56:08,160 --> 01:56:10,800
Ah! Jesus.
1275
01:56:25,480 --> 01:56:30,880
On the whole, I think everyone
finds it a very important event
1276
01:56:30,880 --> 01:56:34,200
and even more so,
the fact we're abroad
1277
01:56:34,200 --> 01:56:36,240
and not able to celebrate it at home.
1278
01:56:36,240 --> 01:56:38,960
Hence we're very happy to, uh,
1279
01:56:38,960 --> 01:56:43,240
do some small token towards
the Queen's celebrations.
1280
01:56:44,480 --> 01:56:47,960
And why, why a beacon here in Kabul?
1281
01:56:47,960 --> 01:56:50,040
I have absolutely no idea.
1282
01:56:53,760 --> 01:56:58,280
By 2006, the British and the
Americans realised that their project
1283
01:56:58,280 --> 01:57:01,920
to bring democracy to Afghanistan
was failing,
1284
01:57:01,920 --> 01:57:05,080
and large parts of the country
were descending into anarchy.
1285
01:57:07,000 --> 01:57:10,600
In Helmand, in Southern Afghanistan,
armed groups had risen up
1286
01:57:10,600 --> 01:57:13,160
and there was constant fighting.
1287
01:57:13,160 --> 01:57:17,360
The coalition were convinced that
this was the return of the Taliban,
1288
01:57:17,360 --> 01:57:20,760
and British troops were sent there
to restore order
1289
01:57:20,760 --> 01:57:22,840
and to help protect
the regional government.
1290
01:57:28,480 --> 01:57:31,320
But when the British commanders
asked the Ministry of Defence
1291
01:57:31,320 --> 01:57:34,280
for information about what was
happening in Helmand,
1292
01:57:34,280 --> 01:57:35,960
there was none.
1293
01:57:35,960 --> 01:57:38,880
There weren't even any
satellites looking at it.
1294
01:57:38,880 --> 01:57:41,240
They had all been moved
to look at Iraq.
1295
01:57:43,600 --> 01:57:47,080
The one thing they did know was that
they were going to the very heartland
1296
01:57:47,080 --> 01:57:50,320
of the tribe that had decisively
defeated the British
1297
01:57:50,320 --> 01:57:52,800
125 years before
1298
01:57:52,800 --> 01:57:54,440
at the Battle of Maiwand.
1299
01:58:01,680 --> 01:58:05,440
The British commander called
a meeting with the local elders.
1300
01:58:05,440 --> 01:58:08,320
It was in the very same town that
the American engineers had built,
1301
01:58:08,320 --> 01:58:11,200
50 years before, when they
were constructing the dam
1302
01:58:11,200 --> 01:58:13,000
across the Helmand River.
1303
01:58:16,440 --> 01:58:18,600
All three of us, the security,
1304
01:58:18,600 --> 01:58:21,840
governance, and for development.
1305
01:58:21,840 --> 01:58:24,800
We are the three who work
together as the British.
1306
01:58:24,800 --> 01:58:29,040
I know you've seen many foreigners
arriving in your country.
1307
01:58:29,040 --> 01:58:31,720
ADAM CURTIS: The commander
reassured the elders
1308
01:58:31,720 --> 01:58:34,240
that the British were there
to defeat the Taliban
1309
01:58:34,240 --> 01:58:36,040
and support the regional government.
1310
01:58:36,040 --> 01:58:38,800
COMMANDER: ..my forefathers
were even here before.
1311
01:58:38,800 --> 01:58:42,200
ADAM CURTIS: Next door, his officers
were preparing to entertain
1312
01:58:42,200 --> 01:58:44,760
the elders with a showing of
David Attenborough's series
1313
01:58:44,760 --> 01:58:47,440
The Blue Planet.
1314
01:58:47,440 --> 01:58:50,960
But the elders thought that the
British had completely misunderstood
1315
01:58:50,960 --> 01:58:52,640
the problem.
1316
01:58:52,640 --> 01:58:55,000
The real enemy was not the Taliban,
1317
01:58:55,000 --> 01:58:58,000
but the corrupt and vicious
government that President Karzai
1318
01:58:58,000 --> 01:59:01,520
had installed in Helmand
and was doing nothing to stop.
1319
01:59:03,240 --> 01:59:06,280
HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
1320
01:59:15,720 --> 01:59:18,240
And tell Mr President Karzai
1321
01:59:18,240 --> 01:59:21,560
if he bring a good governance,
1322
01:59:21,560 --> 01:59:24,080
the security situation
will be the same.
1323
01:59:24,080 --> 01:59:26,960
If you are here for 100 years,
it will be not good.
1324
01:59:26,960 --> 01:59:28,840
Once he brought good governance,
1325
01:59:28,840 --> 01:59:30,480
good people to the government,
1326
01:59:30,480 --> 01:59:34,480
then we have hope that the security
will be change.
1327
01:59:37,800 --> 01:59:40,720
The elders left without
watching The Blue Planet.
1328
01:59:45,480 --> 01:59:47,320
Before they came to Helmand,
1329
01:59:47,320 --> 01:59:51,200
the British had forced President
Karzai to get rid of its governor.
1330
01:59:51,200 --> 01:59:53,960
But they didn't realise that
he had left behind him
1331
01:59:53,960 --> 01:59:57,000
a completely corrupted society.
1332
01:59:57,000 --> 01:59:59,280
And nothing was what it seemed.
1333
02:00:01,880 --> 02:00:04,840
When the British
went into towns like Sangin,
1334
02:00:04,840 --> 02:00:07,560
they tried to support the police.
1335
02:00:07,560 --> 02:00:11,360
But the police were really the armed
militia for the sacked governor.
1336
02:00:12,520 --> 02:00:15,120
To the locals, this meant
that the western troops
1337
02:00:15,120 --> 02:00:17,480
were supporting their oppressors.
1338
02:00:17,480 --> 02:00:19,840
So they started to attack
the British.
1339
02:00:19,840 --> 02:00:21,080
Get inside!
1340
02:00:22,840 --> 02:00:24,200
Shit the bed.
1341
02:00:24,200 --> 02:00:26,360
That's close, that one,
out the back there.
1342
02:00:26,360 --> 02:00:27,760
It was.
1343
02:00:27,760 --> 02:00:29,720
Right, mate, get under it.
1344
02:00:29,720 --> 02:00:32,120
- Shit.
- Shit.
1345
02:00:32,120 --> 02:00:35,080
- They're overshooting on us.
- Stay down, lads, stay down.
1346
02:00:35,080 --> 02:00:38,080
- Is that incoming or outcoming?
- Fucking incoming now.
1347
02:00:38,080 --> 02:00:41,160
ADAM CURTIS: The British thought that
this must mean they were Taliban.
1348
02:00:41,160 --> 02:00:44,880
So in response they dropped
giant bombs on them.
1349
02:00:48,640 --> 02:00:50,120
Fuckin' hell.
1350
02:00:50,120 --> 02:00:51,520
MAN LAUGHS
1351
02:00:51,520 --> 02:00:54,160
- Did you get that, did you?
- Yes, I did. Fucking hell.
1352
02:00:54,160 --> 02:00:55,760
MAN LAUGHS
1353
02:00:55,760 --> 02:00:58,040
LAUGHING: Holy shit.
1354
02:01:00,880 --> 02:01:03,880
But this then devastated
the town centres,
1355
02:01:03,880 --> 02:01:06,840
which made even more local people
join in the attacks.
1356
02:01:09,200 --> 02:01:10,640
Seeing their chance,
1357
02:01:10,640 --> 02:01:14,120
the real ideological Taliban,
who were now based in Pakistan,
1358
02:01:14,120 --> 02:01:17,880
flooded back in and they started
attacking the British, too.
1359
02:01:19,560 --> 02:01:21,640
GUNFIRE
1360
02:01:29,240 --> 02:01:33,520
At the same time the corrupt militias
who worked for the local government
1361
02:01:33,520 --> 02:01:35,240
also turned against the British.
1362
02:01:44,760 --> 02:01:48,760
Faced by the chaos, the British still
clung to their simple narrative
1363
02:01:48,760 --> 02:01:50,640
of good and evil.
1364
02:01:50,640 --> 02:01:53,400
They - the Western forces -
were good.
1365
02:01:53,400 --> 02:01:56,680
And all the different groups who were
attacking them were Taliban,
1366
02:01:56,680 --> 02:01:58,080
and were bad.
1367
02:01:59,480 --> 02:02:03,520
But this extraordinary simplification
had terrible consequences.
1368
02:02:03,520 --> 02:02:06,960
Because if you were an Afghan
and wanted to kill a rival,
1369
02:02:06,960 --> 02:02:09,640
all you had to do
was go to the British
1370
02:02:09,640 --> 02:02:11,800
and tell them that he was a Taliban
1371
02:02:11,800 --> 02:02:15,320
and the British would
obediently wipe him out.
1372
02:02:25,240 --> 02:02:26,880
INCOMING ROCKET
1373
02:02:26,880 --> 02:02:29,080
- Fuck!
- Fuckin' hell!
1374
02:02:29,080 --> 02:02:31,240
- Yeah!
- Whoo!
1375
02:02:31,240 --> 02:02:33,280
The British were being used.
1376
02:02:35,600 --> 02:02:38,400
The terrible truth was that
the British presence
1377
02:02:38,400 --> 02:02:40,400
did not contain the war.
1378
02:02:40,400 --> 02:02:42,200
It did the very opposite.
1379
02:02:42,200 --> 02:02:45,840
It escalated it so much
that it ran out of control.
1380
02:02:45,840 --> 02:02:50,440
And the bodies - Afghan and British -
piled up.
1381
02:03:01,840 --> 02:03:04,120
The dynamic was one of manipulation.
1382
02:03:04,120 --> 02:03:07,040
They understood how we saw
the conflict.
1383
02:03:07,040 --> 02:03:09,800
They presented their local
group conflict,
1384
02:03:09,800 --> 02:03:12,840
their civil war between groups that
had been going on for 35 years.
1385
02:03:12,840 --> 02:03:15,280
They presented everything
in that dynamic.
1386
02:03:15,280 --> 02:03:19,480
So they came to us and said, "Those
people over there are Taliban."
1387
02:03:19,480 --> 02:03:22,080
And we went, "OK." And we went off
and dealt with them.
1388
02:03:22,080 --> 02:03:24,680
But, actually, we were dealing
with their previous enemies.
1389
02:03:24,680 --> 02:03:27,040
So we were just creating more
enemies for ourselves.
1390
02:03:27,040 --> 02:03:30,000
And you ended up in
a downward spiral where,
1391
02:03:30,000 --> 02:03:32,240
because everyone was manipulating us,
1392
02:03:32,240 --> 02:03:33,920
we ended up fighting everyone.
1393
02:03:33,920 --> 02:03:38,600
And then, in return, everyone who
fought us immediately became Taliban.
1394
02:03:38,600 --> 02:03:41,280
The way that we decided whether
you were Taliban or not
1395
02:03:41,280 --> 02:03:43,040
was whether you were firing at us.
1396
02:03:46,840 --> 02:03:48,520
SPORADIC GUNFIRE
1397
02:03:51,600 --> 02:03:55,720
Post 2001, whereas we've understood
the conflict as good/bad,
1398
02:03:55,720 --> 02:03:57,440
black/white, government/Taliban,
1399
02:03:57,440 --> 02:04:01,280
they've understood it as a shifting
mosaic of different groups
1400
02:04:01,280 --> 02:04:04,240
and leaders fighting each other,
effectively over power.
1401
02:04:04,240 --> 02:04:07,920
And the currency of power
in Helmand is opium.
1402
02:04:07,920 --> 02:04:09,840
That's largely what the
conflict's about.
1403
02:04:23,520 --> 02:04:26,400
So what you're saying is that
the...what we thought were
1404
02:04:26,400 --> 02:04:30,920
the Taliban was actually an allergic
reaction to us turning up
1405
02:04:30,920 --> 02:04:33,680
into the middle of
a complex civil war?
1406
02:04:33,680 --> 02:04:34,720
Correct.
1407
02:04:36,880 --> 02:04:39,520
- We made things worse?
- Yes.
1408
02:04:45,040 --> 02:04:46,840
EXPLOSION
1409
02:04:49,160 --> 02:04:51,520
- Where was that?
- That's over there on the left.
1410
02:04:51,520 --> 02:04:53,040
Oh, for fuck's sakes.
1411
02:04:57,600 --> 02:05:01,480
But then the British and the
Americans had to face up to the fact
1412
02:05:01,480 --> 02:05:05,760
that they might not be as good and
innocent as they thought they were.
1413
02:05:05,760 --> 02:05:08,800
HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
1414
02:05:14,160 --> 02:05:18,600
In 2009, the Presidential elections
were held.
1415
02:05:18,600 --> 02:05:20,920
Hamid Karzai stood and allied himself
1416
02:05:20,920 --> 02:05:23,560
with some of the most
powerful warlords.
1417
02:05:24,880 --> 02:05:28,160
But there were allegations that
the warlords rigged the vote
1418
02:05:28,160 --> 02:05:30,360
on a massive scale.
1419
02:05:30,360 --> 02:05:33,440
This was backed up with videos
that seemed to show
1420
02:05:33,440 --> 02:05:36,200
the warlords' followers
stuffing the ballot boxes
1421
02:05:36,200 --> 02:05:38,160
with hundreds of fake voting papers.
1422
02:05:48,440 --> 02:05:51,400
The coalition tried to
rerun the election.
1423
02:05:51,400 --> 02:05:53,520
But Karzai's main opponent refused
1424
02:05:53,520 --> 02:05:56,480
because he said it would be
even more corrupt.
1425
02:05:57,920 --> 02:06:00,360
So the British and Americans
had no choice
1426
02:06:00,360 --> 02:06:05,400
but to abandon their great dream
of a real democracy in Afghanistan.
1427
02:06:05,400 --> 02:06:09,360
They gave in and allowed Karzai
to become president again.
1428
02:06:18,600 --> 02:06:20,920
I still don't trust that fella.
1429
02:06:20,920 --> 02:06:23,480
Things look rather bad, sir.
What are we going to do?
1430
02:06:23,480 --> 02:06:25,960
Do, Captain? We're British,
we won't do anything.
1431
02:06:25,960 --> 02:06:27,440
- Till it's too late.
- Precisely.
1432
02:06:27,440 --> 02:06:29,200
That's the first sensible thing
you've said today.
1433
02:06:29,200 --> 02:06:31,120
- Thank you, sir.
- No, gentlemen, as always,
1434
02:06:31,120 --> 02:06:33,440
we will carry on as if nothing
was going to happen.
1435
02:06:33,440 --> 02:06:34,920
This morning...
1436
02:06:34,920 --> 02:06:38,800
the Federal Reserve, with support
of the Treasury Department,
1437
02:06:38,800 --> 02:06:42,720
took additional actions to mitigate
disruptions to our financial markets.
1438
02:06:44,240 --> 02:06:46,960
Today's events are fast moving.
1439
02:06:46,960 --> 02:06:49,600
But the chairman of the Federal
Reserve and the secretary
1440
02:06:49,600 --> 02:06:53,120
of the Treasury are on top of them,
and will take the appropriate steps
1441
02:06:53,120 --> 02:06:55,680
to promote stability in our markets.
1442
02:06:55,680 --> 02:06:57,600
ADAM CURTIS: And at
the very same time
1443
02:06:57,600 --> 02:07:00,680
as their simple plan was falling
apart in Afghanistan,
1444
02:07:00,680 --> 02:07:03,560
the politicians had to face
a crisis at home.
1445
02:07:05,120 --> 02:07:06,920
They had given power to the banks
1446
02:07:06,920 --> 02:07:10,240
because the bankers and the financial
technocrats had promised
1447
02:07:10,240 --> 02:07:12,960
that they could hold
the economy stable.
1448
02:07:12,960 --> 02:07:17,000
But in 2008, the whole intricate
system of credit and loans
1449
02:07:17,000 --> 02:07:20,280
that the banks had
created collapsed,
1450
02:07:20,280 --> 02:07:23,720
and there was growing panic as
giant financial institutions
1451
02:07:23,720 --> 02:07:25,280
faced bankruptcy.
1452
02:07:28,600 --> 02:07:31,320
The politicians in America
and Britain stepped in
1453
02:07:31,320 --> 02:07:33,800
and rescued the banks.
1454
02:07:33,800 --> 02:07:37,400
As they did so, they began to
discover that most of the major
1455
02:07:37,400 --> 02:07:41,000
financial institutions were also
riddled with corruption.
1456
02:07:42,560 --> 02:07:45,520
But unlike President Roosevelt
in the 1930s,
1457
02:07:45,520 --> 02:07:49,160
they didn't then try
and reform the system.
1458
02:07:49,160 --> 02:07:51,640
Instead they simply propped it up
1459
02:07:51,640 --> 02:07:56,520
by literally pouring billions more
pounds and dollars into the banks,
1460
02:07:56,520 --> 02:08:01,080
hoping that this would somehow
spread through the economies.
1461
02:08:01,080 --> 02:08:03,920
They had no other idea.
1462
02:08:03,920 --> 02:08:05,840
GUNFIRE
1463
02:08:05,840 --> 02:08:07,760
CHILDREN CRY
1464
02:08:12,840 --> 02:08:15,760
And, faced by disaster
in Afghanistan,
1465
02:08:15,760 --> 02:08:18,480
the politicians did exactly
the same there, too.
1466
02:08:19,880 --> 02:08:23,680
The Americans knew that the
idea of democracy was failing.
1467
02:08:23,680 --> 02:08:29,200
In desperation, they poured even more
money into the Afghan economy.
1468
02:08:29,200 --> 02:08:32,080
The idea was that this would somehow
create a simpler,
1469
02:08:32,080 --> 02:08:33,760
economic form of democracy
1470
02:08:33,760 --> 02:08:36,760
and that the free market
would liberate people.
1471
02:08:38,080 --> 02:08:40,040
They would become model consumers
1472
02:08:40,040 --> 02:08:43,040
following their own
rational self-interest,
1473
02:08:43,040 --> 02:08:46,600
just like in the economies
of the west.
1474
02:08:46,600 --> 02:08:49,240
And in an odd way, it worked.
1475
02:08:49,240 --> 02:08:51,200
Many of those in charge of the money
1476
02:08:51,200 --> 02:08:54,320
did behave in their own
rational self-interest.
1477
02:08:54,320 --> 02:08:56,280
They simply stole the money,
1478
02:08:56,280 --> 02:08:59,440
smuggled it out through
Kabul Airport,
1479
02:08:59,440 --> 02:09:02,560
and used it to buy
luxury properties in Dubai.
1480
02:09:04,600 --> 02:09:08,760
During this period it was estimated
that 10 million a day
1481
02:09:08,760 --> 02:09:11,240
was being taken out
of Afghanistan this way.
1482
02:09:21,600 --> 02:09:25,280
SHOUTING IN OWN LANGUAGE
1483
02:09:25,280 --> 02:09:27,880
The scandal seemed to
confirm for many Afghans
1484
02:09:27,880 --> 02:09:31,600
that the United States had not
brought democracy or free markets
1485
02:09:31,600 --> 02:09:33,240
to their country,
1486
02:09:33,240 --> 02:09:37,080
but instead a corrupt crony
capitalism that had taken over
1487
02:09:37,080 --> 02:09:39,240
Afghanistan and its government.
1488
02:09:41,480 --> 02:09:43,640
Which was the very same allegation
1489
02:09:43,640 --> 02:09:46,000
that as being made against
politicians at home,
1490
02:09:46,000 --> 02:09:48,280
in America and in Britain.
1491
02:10:12,720 --> 02:10:14,800
At the end of 2014,
1492
02:10:14,800 --> 02:10:16,960
British soldiers left Afghanistan.
1493
02:10:18,160 --> 02:10:21,400
All the bases were wiped out
as if nothing had been there.
1494
02:10:22,560 --> 02:10:27,080
Even the war memorials were packed up
and taken back to Staffordshire.
1495
02:10:40,480 --> 02:10:45,040
But they weren't the only fighters
who had left Afghanistan.
1496
02:10:45,040 --> 02:10:47,760
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi
had gone to Afghanistan
1497
02:10:47,760 --> 02:10:50,960
to fight the Soviets
back in the 1980s.
1498
02:10:50,960 --> 02:10:53,760
Then he had stayed on
to work with Osama bin Laden.
1499
02:10:55,600 --> 02:10:58,600
And in 2003 he went to Iraq
1500
02:10:58,600 --> 02:11:01,680
and set up a jihadist group
called Al-Qaeda in Iraq
1501
02:11:01,680 --> 02:11:04,040
to fight the American invasion.
1502
02:11:06,120 --> 02:11:08,160
Allahu Akbar!
1503
02:11:13,880 --> 02:11:15,240
Allahu Akbar!
1504
02:11:15,240 --> 02:11:19,280
Al Zarqawi was powerfully
influenced by bin Laden's ideas.
1505
02:11:19,280 --> 02:11:21,720
But he took them much further.
1506
02:11:21,720 --> 02:11:25,480
He and his group killed anyone
who they decided did not believe
1507
02:11:25,480 --> 02:11:29,440
in their fundamentalist ideas
and deserved to die.
1508
02:11:29,440 --> 02:11:32,640
Even the original founders
of Al-Qaeda were shocked,
1509
02:11:32,640 --> 02:11:36,800
and they sent him a letter telling
him to stop killing civilians.
1510
02:11:36,800 --> 02:11:38,960
But al-Zarqawi ignored them.
1511
02:11:38,960 --> 02:11:41,960
He was convinced that
the insurgency in Iraq
1512
02:11:41,960 --> 02:11:45,880
could be used to spread an Islamist
revolution throughout the Arab world.
1513
02:11:45,880 --> 02:11:48,280
HE SPEAKS OWN LANGUAGE
1514
02:11:57,640 --> 02:11:59,200
But before he could do this,
1515
02:11:59,200 --> 02:12:02,720
the Americans found al-Zarqawi
and dropped a large bomb on him.
1516
02:12:05,120 --> 02:12:07,360
But it didn't stop
the spread of the idea.
1517
02:12:11,440 --> 02:12:13,320
Despite al-Zarqarwi's death
1518
02:12:13,320 --> 02:12:15,640
his organisation survived,
1519
02:12:15,640 --> 02:12:21,320
and began to mutate into something
even more ferocious and ambitious.
1520
02:12:21,320 --> 02:12:24,840
But as it did so, it was possessed
by ghosts from the past.
1521
02:12:26,720 --> 02:12:30,880
What re-emerged was the fierce,
intolerant vision of Wahhabism
1522
02:12:30,880 --> 02:12:34,120
that had survived from the 1920s.
1523
02:12:34,120 --> 02:12:38,560
It had spread outwards through
Afghanistan in the 1980s and '90s
1524
02:12:38,560 --> 02:12:42,480
where it had become mixed
with modern Islamist ideas.
1525
02:12:43,880 --> 02:12:48,240
But now, faced by the nihilistic
horror in post-invasion Iraq,
1526
02:12:48,240 --> 02:12:52,720
any ideas of building a new
revolutionary future disappeared,
1527
02:12:52,720 --> 02:12:57,000
and, instead, the conservative
and backward-looking Wahhabism
1528
02:12:57,000 --> 02:12:59,760
became the dominating influence,
1529
02:12:59,760 --> 02:13:02,920
with its desire to retreat
to an imagined past.
1530
02:13:04,800 --> 02:13:09,360
In 2013, the Islamic State of Iraq
and the Levant was formed.
1531
02:13:09,360 --> 02:13:11,360
Known as ISIS in the West.
1532
02:13:12,640 --> 02:13:14,920
Its aim is to create
a unified caliphate
1533
02:13:14,920 --> 02:13:17,280
throughout the Islamic world.
1534
02:13:17,280 --> 02:13:20,800
And although it uses the techniques
of modern media
1535
02:13:20,800 --> 02:13:24,960
it is, at heart, the same violent
dream that had driven the Bedouins
1536
02:13:24,960 --> 02:13:29,600
who had created the Kingdom
of Saudi Arabia in the 1920s.
1537
02:13:32,120 --> 02:13:34,880
Back then, the King of Saudi Arabia
had found it necessary
1538
02:13:34,880 --> 02:13:36,800
to try and exterminate them
1539
02:13:36,800 --> 02:13:39,440
because they, too, wanted
to go on and conquer
1540
02:13:39,440 --> 02:13:41,920
the whole of the Islamic world.
1541
02:13:41,920 --> 02:13:45,960
He machine-gunned them in the bleak
sands of the Arabian Peninsula.
1542
02:13:47,440 --> 02:13:50,800
And now the Saudis, along with
the British and Americans,
1543
02:13:50,800 --> 02:13:53,280
are trying to do
the same thing again -
1544
02:13:53,280 --> 02:13:56,240
to kill the jihadists and their ideas
1545
02:13:56,240 --> 02:13:59,080
in the sand dunes of
Northern Iraq and Syria.
1546
02:14:00,920 --> 02:14:03,080
But it is an uncertain war.
1547
02:14:03,080 --> 02:14:06,720
Western politicians are having
to accept that the simple division
1548
02:14:06,720 --> 02:14:10,240
between good and evil doesn't exist.
1549
02:14:10,240 --> 02:14:13,680
By bombing ISIS, they are helping
the evil President Assad
1550
02:14:13,680 --> 02:14:14,760
to remain in power.
1551
02:14:18,920 --> 02:14:23,760
And those in charge don't even know
how big a threat ISIS really is.
1552
02:14:23,760 --> 02:14:26,760
Is it a dark, existential threat?
1553
02:14:26,760 --> 02:14:28,320
Or is it really a front,
1554
02:14:28,320 --> 02:14:33,200
being used in an ongoing complex
power struggle inside Iraq?
1555
02:14:33,200 --> 02:14:34,880
We just don't know.
1556
02:14:37,200 --> 02:14:40,120
At the end of the Soviet
science fiction film Solaris,
1557
02:14:40,120 --> 02:14:42,320
the astronaut returns home.
1558
02:14:43,880 --> 02:14:46,040
Everything seems real and normal.
1559
02:14:46,040 --> 02:14:49,600
But somehow he doesn't trust
in anything any longer.
1560
02:14:53,560 --> 02:14:56,320
Although we have the returned
from Afghanistan,
1561
02:14:56,320 --> 02:14:59,960
our leaders also seem to have
lost faith in anything.
1562
02:14:59,960 --> 02:15:03,640
And the simple stories they tell us
don't make sense any longer.
1563
02:15:06,400 --> 02:15:08,640
The experience of Afghanistan
1564
02:15:08,640 --> 02:15:12,560
has made us begin to realise that
there is something else out there
1565
02:15:12,560 --> 02:15:15,080
but we just don't have
the apparatus to see it.
1566
02:15:16,880 --> 02:15:19,760
What is needed is a new story.
1567
02:15:19,760 --> 02:15:22,040
And one that we can believe in.
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