Meeting the Taliban

Having witnessed the battle for the town of Garmser in the Helmand province of Afghanistan, Sean Langan goes to meet The Taliban. In this remarkable film he recounts his initial encounter.

‘The commander, a young energetic man who had once been the Taliban regime’s chief of criminal intelligence in Kabul, ushered me into a room. He told me not to worry, and that I was safe from American bombs in their hands. And then he laughed, and reminded me not to do this too often. "We had a shura [gathering] before you came, and voted on whether to kill you, kidnap you or grant you an interview. Fortunately, we voted to do the interview." I thanked him, and made a mental note not to try this again.’

As a Taliban Commander observed to Sean Langan:
‘It’s easy to occupy Afghanistan, but it’s difficult to remain here for long. God willing, like the Russians before them, the Americans and British will fail.’ And with that he got to his feet, clicked his fingers and his men got ready to go.

There wasn’t a single recorded incident of a suicide bombing during the jihad against the Soviet Union. But they are now increasingly commonplace in today’s Afghanistan. The War on Terror has radicalised a whole generation of Muslims across the world.