Afghanistan: Calm Before the Storm
26-minutes, 2001
Ref: 004tvc

In the week before the first bombing raid on Afghanistan, we were at the Northern Alliance front. Filmed in the tense, expectant climate of impending war, this report reveals the harsh living conditions in the regions that have held out against the Taliban troops for the last five years.

With interviewees rendered even more jittery by the assassination of Commander Massoud by two men masquerading as journalists, we interviewed Burhanudin Rabbani, President of the United Front , General Pir Muhammad, commander of the Tahar front who has been fighting for more than 20 years, the director of the hospital that treated Commander Massoud as well as mujahideen, and teachers and students of both sexes.

The films paints a disturbing picture of the conflicting aims of different groups as cameras film the gruesome impact of the war in a hospital and an orphanage and the desperate plight of local inhabitants fleeing the fighting. Pir Muhammad speaks of the cash offers made by the Mullah Omar and Bin Laden himself to tempt him to change sides, and his belief that if the Northern Alliance is not involved, there will never be peace. Others hope for the return of Afghanistan's exiled king.

All are united in their hostility to the Taliban terrorists and in their hope that, in the wake of the events of 11th September, they will finally be able to rebuild Afghanistan from the rubble of 25 years of war.