Transcript for:
Exploring Tennis and Afghan Conflict Coverage

Welcome to the World of Tennis I'm going to show you how to play the World of Tennis in the World of Tennis in the World of Tennis in the World of Tennis in the World of Tennis in the World of Tennis in the World of Tennis in the World of Tennis in the Hello We want to interview you and your brother, Commander Koka. We want to talk to you about your cooperation with the foreign forces. Do you have time to meet today? good as water say dash occur I have covered the war in Afghanistan all my career.

In 2006, NATO entered the Helmand Province. And I traveled as a young journalist to the town of Musakala, where Danish and British soldiers were in a hard fight with Taliban. Come on, I'm covering you!

As a soldier I was sent to Helmand Province and saw with my own eyes who our allies in the war against terror were. There were rumors about drug trafficking, oppression and sexual abuse. I have since left the military and have now had the opportunity to investigate who it was I was part of holding on to power. In Mozarkala, the civilians told that the chief of police Koka and his brother Isarkan committed an attack against the population.

However, Koka and Isarkan were the Danish, English and American soldiers'partners in cooperation for the next ten years. It ended with the Taliban raiding Musa Qala, and they didn't take it, they made it their capital. Me and other journalists, I cannot travel to Hellman Ridge. You have to meet Isar Khan and Koke alone.

You have to be very careful how you approach them. They still have power. Hello, welcome.

How are you? Good. Don't be careful.

I'm going to be a little bit more serious. I'm going to be a little bit more serious. Say so, Mas. I'm not going to film you.

No, no, no, no. Seriously. He's asking if we should film.

Yeah, yeah. No, no, no. His brother is coming now. Remember the sound. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hello, how are you? I am fine, thank you.

Hello, how are you? I am fine, thank you. The Danish commander, Lars, was there.

He was saying hello to you. We talked to him. Hello, sir.

The aim at the start was to hunt Osama bin Laden and others guilty of the 9-11 attacks. For a few years progress was made, but there was growing trouble, particularly in the south, and a re-energized insurgency was born. The first Danish soldiers were captured in Helmand Province in southern Afghanistan.

Danish soldiers are part of the British-led task force Helmand and will relieve British units in the area. Heavy fighting is broken out and local Afghan security forces have come under immense pressure. Fire coming!

Shabidu! F***ing scum! You have high explosive. You have hit chain.

You have hit chain. Nice sound. I was sent to Afghanistan as part of the British unit.

and get a message to take the unit to Muzakala to take up the fight with the Taliban. So, chief, you will be allowed to explain something? I think it's enough for day one.

The task in Musa Qaeda was to win hearts and minds in the city and create peace with the Afghan political power and cooperation. My first impression of the political force is positive. I get that through Koka as a boss. He's a very nice person.

We found working with Koka relatively simple. because we spoke the same sorts of language. In my dealings, with Afghan policemen over 18 months.

He was the most effective man in dealing with Afghan police officers that I had met. Commander Koko was widely seen as the most powerful Afghan leader in the district, somebody that was really key to future stability in the district, and we needed to work well alongside. I didn't meet Issa Khan under the calmest of circumstances. He was clearly called upon after his brother was was wounded to the point where he couldn't take he couldn't have that role as chief of police anymore okay man How many times did Moussa Qala commit suicide?

How many? I don't know. I don't know.

Right now, someone is trying to kill you. After the last operation, someone is trying to kill you. Yes, yes, yes.

He was shot three times in the face. He said it himself, right? Yes, he was shot three times in the face.

Yes, he was shot three times in the face. I'm going to take a picture of you. I'm going to take a picture of you.

I'm going to take a picture of you. I'm going to take a picture of you. I'm going to take a picture of you.

I'm going to take a picture of you. I'm going to take a picture of you. I'm going to take a picture of you. I'm going to take a picture of you. I'm going to take a picture of you.

I'm going to take a picture of you. I'm going to take a picture of you. I'm going to take a picture of you. I'm going to take a picture of you. I was a military commander.

My brother was a military commander. I was a military commander. I was a military commander. I was a military commander.

I was a military commander. I was a military commander. I was a military commander. I was a military commander. Do you know Commander Koka and Commander Issa?

You are famous among the Taliban. We are not afraid of the Kuchinais. If there is no child, we don't call for help. We call for help from the government.

If there is a child, we call for help. We don't ask for anything. The Taliban are like the Kabul government.

They are the state and the province. The Taliban have a province there, in Mosul. We are the soldiers of Kabul.

We are the ones who have been working for the past 20 years. We are the ones who have been working for the past 20 years. We are the ones who have been working for the past 20 years. I was born in Tahrirak. I was born in Tahrirak.

I was born in Tahrirak. I was born in Tahrirak. I was born in Tahrirak.

I was born in Tahrirak. I was born in Tahrirak. I was born in Tahrirak.

I was born in Tahrirak. I was a doctor, but I was not allowed to do this. I told them that I was not allowed to do this.

But when I was finally able to do this, I was very happy. I told them that I was going to die. I was forced to do this. I told them that God is not God, but He is. I told them that I was not going to die.

In the last 15 years, how many people have been killed and injured? 500 people have died. I have 100 people. Why are there more injured?

Because they have no clothes, no clothes, no clothes. There are even 1000 people. I want to eat food from Afghanistan.

I have been living in the country for a long time. I have been living here for a long time. Now I am 100% in the country.

Why are those tablets good? In this war, they calm people down. Yes, they are.

They make you feel good. They make you feel free. These are the fruits of nature.

They make you feel good. Do you want to eat or drink? I don't know.

I don't know how much you can drink. I don't know. I don't know how much you can drink.

I don't know. I Afghanistan is like going back in time. And particularly in the south, it's a totally different world from anything you've ever experienced. Helmand is the middle ages with explosives, Kalashnikovs and mobile phones.

You get an unfiltered view, if you like, of humanity in both a positive and a negative sense. If you meet someone who is 50 and they're in any kind of position of power, They own a bit of land or they run a militia or they're a police commander. They're a survivor.

And they will have, over the last 30 years, have had to make some incredibly tough calls to survive, right? And the fact that they're sitting in front of you means they're good at surviving. They're really good at politics.

And there are plenty of people who weren't as good as them at politics and they're dead. Here we live. Out here is the farm. There is about 70 amperes hanging, that is bouncing and shitting over the whole thing.

There is a bunch of them sitting up there. I see a compound that is filled with canoes. And here is the local police.

Mega-scrape, as always. RPG. Dope. Taliban. RPG.

There were many of them who were extremely scrape all the time. So we were actually a little scared that they would carry weapons. There was some rain water, and I was sitting and washing something.

And then I looked up and I think there were two or three boys with make-up on. They started from around 13 up to 15-16. The young boys'daily tasks were to wash clothes, to make tea, and to act like an Afghan housewife to her husband.

They're intimate with each other. And you can hear it. From time to time, especially visiting remote outposts, we saw some folks that resembled Chi boys or might have had that role, and it was our suspicion that that's what they were, and that's how the police force used them.

But I do think there's a sense that by 2012, they had learned to tweak their behavior and what they exposed us to in certain ways and new things that might cause tension. We certainly had reports throughout our time there that police officers were demanding the removal of children from families to help assist them in menial duties in police posts that we led to believe was... It's quite groundbreaking to experience the behavior the police had with the young boys. If you read some books about Afghanistan, it's described in several places that it can be part of the culture, but I've always perceived it as something that was done in the old days and not something that took place that day in the present. There were actually 14-15 boys there who were used as slaves.

We are in their police station. So if I were to enter a room now, and one of these T-boys is being with an older police officer, Afghan police. What I should do?

Number one, there can be a confrontation, where I can end up shooting him, or he shoots me. And then we can... If we don't keep it up, we can all go back. They can turn against us whenever they want.

Who defined for you that it was part of their culture? The authorities. How do you react when you see this happening?

First of all, I'm a little bit surprised that it's happening. And to find out what's actually happening and what the facts are in this case. When it's like, on the spot and we have found out that there is one who has an act of sexual assault on another elderly man there, then I call the Head Court and get a message that we should not be compared to after it has been turned over to the British leadership. I am an Afghan.

I was born and raised in Afghanistan. It is not normal in Afghanistan at all. There is a crisis of culture there. Koka and Isakhan both had children. They had some small children, and they exploited them.

My parents were the ones who were against Koka. How did you find these people? In two months, three months, four months, five months, I found one person. Now there are more than 100 people.

Some come, some don't, they are afraid. They say, the soldiers will kill me. And they say, the people were wronged.

The people were robbed, they took money, they killed people. I was a young man. I was a young man. I was a young man.

I was a young man. I was a young man. I was a young man. I was imprisoned for a day.

I was sent to the hospital. I was given a spandex and I was taken to the doctor. They gave me medication. I was taken to the hospital for a long time.

When I was taken to the hospital, I was tortured by the commander. He said I was a messenger. I was not able to do anything.

I was not able to do anything. I was not able to do anything. I was not able to do anything. I was not able to do anything.

I was not able to do anything. I was not able to do anything. I was not able to do anything.

I was not able to do anything. I was not able to do anything. I was not able to do anything. I was not able to do anything. I was not able to do anything.

I was not able to do anything. I was in Sarawak, but I was in the city. I was killed in the city.

I was shot by the police. I was shot by the police. I was shot by the police. I was born in the village of Batas.

I was born in the village of Batas. I was born in the village of Batas. I was born in the village of Batas.

I was born in the village of Batas. I was born in the village of Batas. I was born in the village of Batas. I was born in the village of Batas. I was born in the village of Batas.

I was born in the village of Batas. I was told that a man had robbed me. I said, why?

He said, he was a thief. I said, I am a thief. I am a thief.

How can I rob a thief? I said, I will do it. He said, why? He said, I will beat you.

I said, I will not do it. I said, I will not do it. He said, he will rob me.

I said, he will do it. He said, he will do it. I said, I will do it.

He said, he will do it. I was born in the village of Paito. I was born in a small village.

I was born in a small village. I was born in a small village. I was born in a small village. I had a really good collaboration with Kogaf. I always drank tea with him after work.

He wanted me to. It's part of the Afghan culture. But I also figured out who we were dealing with.

He wanted us to go out and start the operation. We should just destroy them with heavy weapons and possibly helicopters if necessary. The reason he wanted us to leave the camp and operate around it and get more control over the area, was because Musa Qala was the largest opium trading market. When the Afghan police suddenly got together as the chief, they were locked up in the camp. they had no influence on this market.

That part was taken by the Taliban. They just wanted to use us. We could make the area bigger for their influence.

They could get more than a percent of the opium trade. He explained that to me. Well, just three months ago, he had control over all the opium that was sold and was sold in the area. We have a peace house over there.

The Danish soldiers were not that far away from the room where Korkat was. Where he was in charge of things. He spoke a lot with a loud voice on the phone. And that's typical of Afghans who do that.

They think it's not that far away, I'll just call. At a certain point he was talking on the phone. And I was actually very close to hearing what he said. He was talking to someone called Mullah Sheikh Mohammed Al Khonsada.

He was previously governor of the Helmand province. And at that point he was a member of the Senate in Kabul. But the Afghan police still rule in Helmand, including Kho Kha. Every other day, at least, he is contacted by the authorities.

Sheikh Mohammed Al-Ghazada is from a prominent Helmandi family and then he was appointed provincial governor of Helmand by Karzai on the basis of their friendship. He was protected by Karzai because they had this friendship going back a long way even though he was a huge drug dealer. We're ready. We have a record that shows that when Koka was talking to the police, the police and the commander talked to each other over the phone.

Have you ever been to a police station? No. I don't like it.

If I like it now, I will never pay the commander for the police station. And I have told the security commander twice that I will never pay the police station. Why don't you like it?

And the Danish went up to Musa Qala in 2006. Koka was there, he was the policeman. Hi guys, you know. Oh thank God you've come to support me, thanks very much.

And like, you know, his job actually was to run the drugs crop for Sheikh Mohammed. There was a special, like, national level drugs task force that raided Sheikh Mohammed's office and they found nine tonnes of opium in it. The being in the police was a way of facilitating the underlying business. It wasn't that they were policemen who had drugs on the side, it was the other way around. I was in the police department and I was in the police department.

We have to take care of our children. It is impossible to have so many children in the village. It is impossible to have so many children in the village. We have a center in the village. It is impossible to have so many children in the village.

They have a good life, but they are not able to take care of themselves. They are not able to think. They are not able to think. I am a patient.

I have a problem with my leg. I have a problem with my leg. I have a problem with my leg. I have a problem with my leg.

I have a problem with my leg. Hello, how are you? I am fine.

I am going to the market to buy some goods. I am going to the market. I am going to the market. I am going to the market.

I am going to buy some clothes. I am going to buy some clothes. I am going to buy some clothes.

I am going to buy some clothes. I am going to buy some clothes. Do you think that Issa Khan is on to us? You think he has found out what's going on?

I don't know. I have talked to the general and maybe his men can take you to the front line in Mawa. Be careful about Issa Khan.

If you're alone with him out there, if he gets angry, you can't escape. Alright. Okay, we'll talk to you later.

Alright, see you later man. Man. There's a man.

It's a fun. What's up? I'm going to get some snacks.

Assalamu alaikum. How are you? You're not drunk?

Assalamu alaikum. How are you? I'm fine, thank you. I'm fine.

You're going to get drunk. I told him not to come. Why? You didn't make any noise and left. No, where did I go?

You came here and didn't call me. I told you to come here and I will talk to you. I was talking to you. What a coincidence! Yes, yes.

Let's go. The police commander is not making any noise. Where is the war cameraman?

He is over there. I will hang him on the roof. Do your phones work out here? Yeah, I've got a check out here, so I'm checking how it works. This is exactly the situation.

It's in the woods. Oh, no, no, no! Is it good here?

Yes, people like it here. People like it here. There is no problem.

They didn't close the gates. They closed the doors. I'm a farmer.

I'm a farmer. I'm a farmer. I'm a farmer.

I'm a farmer. I'm a farmer. I'm a farmer.

I'm a farmer. I'm a farmer. I'm a farmer. I'm a farmer.

I'm a farmer. I'm a farmer. I'm a farmer. I'm a farmer. I'm a farmer.

I'm a farmer. I'm a farmer. I'm a farmer.

I'm a farmer. I'm a farmer. I'm a farmer. I'm a farmer.

I'm a farmer. I'm a farmer. I'm a farmer.

I'm a farmer. I'm a farmer. I'm a farmer. Oh no, the commander said to go to the left.

Oh. To the left? Yes. I told him to go to the left, but he didn't listen. To the left.

To the left. You're going? I told you to go to the left, but you didn't listen.

I'm going to shoot you. Is there a man in the house? Yes, there is. Is there a man in the house? Yes.

What is he doing? Where is he? He is in the house. He is going to the house.

He is going to the house. Is he? Yes. Is he going to the house?

Yes. I came here to see the commander. I'm going to the border. I'm going to the border. You're going to the border?

Yes, I'm going to the border. Are you going to the border? Yes, I'm going to the border. The last one who died was the one who was killed.

The other one was killed by the Jibahar. The last one was killed by the Jibahar. May Allah protect us.

We are going to the border. We are going to the border. We are going to the border. We are going to the border.

We are going to the border. We are going to the border. We are going to the border.

We are going to the border. We are going to the border. We are going to the border. We are going to the border. We are going to the border.

I ask the police if they have done something that people have been arrested for. It's a general question. The police are not here. They are here to arrest people.

I am not a police officer. I am a police officer. This is a private road.

The government has built this road for the people to use. I thought, what's wrong with the critical thinking? I have a feeling we can't do this. I tried to approach it in relation to Hayek, and I could just feel it. He won't talk about it.

It's completely out of the question in this situation. Sorry. I don't know what to do.

I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do.

I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do.

I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do.

I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do.

I don't know what to do. I don't know what to do. Thank you very much. Goodbye.

Goodbye. Goodbye. If the enemy was here, what would he say to them? If he had a chance to talk to them? I was very sad when I heard that my son was killed.

I was very sad. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to do.

Panic, chaos, a staggering collapse. The Taliban have taken Afghanistan. Hello Martin and Najib, I am in the US now.

The Taliban are very dangerous for me. I don't know what has happened with the Hamas. The police in Helmand is no longer in power.

There are many more serious cases about murder in Sakala. You should investigate. This is the main street of Sakala.

Yeah, mass hatred. This is the exact way the Danish soldiers came in at 9 a.m. in 2006. I was born in the village of Laleh, and I was raised by my mother. I was born in a village called Bwatei, and I was born in Las.

I was born in Las, and I was raised in Basra. I was told that the soldiers were coming. They were coming to the third base. They were coming from the north.

They were coming from the north, but they were coming from the north. They were coming from the north. They were coming from the north.

They were coming from the north. They were coming from the north. I am the commander of the police.

My name is Zahar Khan. When I was a child, I was with 10 people in this house. I was a soldier.

I was a soldier, but I was a soldier. I was a soldier. I was a soldier.

I was a soldier. I was a soldier. I had never heard of this food before.

It was in the square where the government was. This food was made for them. They were not able to make it for themselves. They were killed and brought back. This food was brought back to us and we were able to eat it.

This food was also brought back to them. They were able to feed the people. They were able to make it for themselves.

The people of Siwa were very violent. They attacked us. They attacked us and we were trapped. We were attacked by the army.

They were also attacking us in Kabul. We were attacked by the Taliban. If there is a Taliban in the country, it will be a crime.

If it happens, we will be in trouble. I am not the only one who is in trouble. There are many Taliban in the country.

My brother is a Taliban. I'm filming. How are you? Do you know Isa Khan?

Do you know Isa Khan? Yes. What happened?

What happened? I don't know if he was killed or alive. No. Yeah, yeah, this is Isa Khan's checkpoint. Yeah, I think stop here.

Don't drive all the way up. There will be... We'll just go up and ask them.

Assalamu alaikum. Assalamu alaikum. Assalamu alaikum.

Assalamu alaikum. Do you know what happened to the police who were here before? What happened to the police in Lashkar Gah?

Where did they go? The police were very angry. They were very angry and they were very angry.

They were very angry and they were very angry. Isn't that where he dressed up? No, it's good enough.

It was the house over there we interviewed him in. I was really hurt when I was there. I was really hurt when I was there.

I was really hurt when I was there. I was really hurt when I was there. I was really hurt when I was there.

I was really hurt when I was there. I was really hurt when I was there. How do you live with it?

How do you look forward? How do you get back to living a normal life? I don't know what to do.

I have been in the war for 42 years. If you look at how most Helmandis viewed the Brits or the Danes or NATO or whatever, they viewed them as a very large, very well-armed, but incredibly naive tribe that they could manipulate. You understand very clearly that how the NATO forces understand you is as a member of the Afghan government and therefore you're on the good side and you are therefore, you know, need to be supported and then we're going to bring, you know, peace and justice and sunlight to this Afghan village. But actually we know that you're probably a murdering, raping drug trafficker. They were a mafia organisation.

That was, that became the government in order to further the mafia organisation's goals. There were 60 of those examples, 100 of those examples in Helmand. There were thousands of those examples across Afghanistan. Like this was happening all over the place. Muzikala is just a good, just a good example of that.

Hello, Issa Khan. Hello, Issa Khan. How are you?

I'm fine. Are you okay? I'm fine. Are you okay?

Good, everything is fine. Yes. What is happening?

Is everything fine? Everything is fine. How is your situation? Where are you right now? I am in Afghanistan.

I have been sent to Afghanistan. I am in the village of Babur. We are contacting you, Issachar, because we want to give you the opportunity and the right to reply to some accusations that have been made against you and your brother and the police force.

We have talked to many sources from Muzakala who accuse you and your brother and the police force in Muzakala for acts of torture and mistreatment, killings and rapes of civilians. We are very grateful to you for your help. We are very grateful to you for your help. To be honest, we did not feel safe telling you at that point. We did not know how you would react.

Danish soldiers are saying that they saw it themselves that your men I'm going to download the one I want to download for Google Maps. Let's go. I'm going to download the one I want to download.

I'm going to download the one I want to download. I'm going to download the one I want to download. Let's go. Let's go.

Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.

Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.

Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.

Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.

Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.

Let's go. Let's go. Let's go. Let's go.

Let's go.