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PBS Frontline - Return of the Taliban
NY Times ReviewPresident Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney probably do not watch many PBS Frontline documentaries about Iraq and Afghanistan, and for the sake of their blood pressure, its probably just as well. Nothing could be more maddening that the slow, methodical drip, drip, drip of unflattering image and fact especially when framed by the grave, reproachful voice-over of Will Lyman, a longtime narrator on Frontline. Return of the Taliban, on PBS tonight, examines why the United States appears to be losing ground against Al Qaeda and Taliban forces in Afghanistan. It gives two stark reasons: the Jihadists single-minded determination to expel foreign troops and Pakistans ambivalence about rooting out Taliban strongholds along its border. The documentary asserts, almost offhandedly, that the war in Iraq has diverted American attention and resources from Afghanistan. In one scene, Mr. Bush and President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan are shown sitting together in the White House in 2004, announcing their joint commitment to hunt down Osama bin Laden and his followers. But by now the administration was preoccupied with Iraq, the narrator says sonorously. The hunt for Al Qaeda was left to Pakistan. The documentary comes on the heels of Mr. Musharrafs latest visit to the United States, a tour to promote his autobiography that included a good-humored appearance on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart. Mr. Stewart offered his guest tea and bluntly asked, Where is Osama bin Laden? Mr. Musharraf waggishly said he didnt know, and the audience laughed along. Return of the Taliban sets out to demonstrate that actually, Pakistani officials know more than they are letting on, and are not particularly eager to help American forces find out. Mr. Musharraf portrays his country as the mouse that caved, a small, vulnerable nation bullied by the United States after 9/11 to cooperate, but hampered by religious and political pressures that outsiders never seem to fully appreciate. According to the filmmakers, however, there is nothing soft and helpless about the way the Musharraf administration handles Pakistani reporters. The documentary points the finger at the government for the murder in Hayatullah Khan, a Pakistani journalist who worked with PBS and whose reporting on a 2005 missile attack on a Qaeda operative embarrassed the Musharraf government. (The Pakistan army said that American forces had nothing to do with the attack; Mr. Khan published pictures of missile fragments covered with United States military markings.) Soon after, Mr. Khan disappeared, and last June his corpse was found, riddled with bullets and hands bound with government-issue handcuffs, in North Waziristan, a tribal region on the Afghan border. Mr. Musharraf denied knowing anything about Mr. Khan or his disappearance in an interview with the Frontline reporter Martin Smith, but said his government was not behind it. Pakistan appears not to be as ruthless about stamping out Taliban forces in its territory. Its not hard to see why: almost every time Pakistani forces attack the Taliban or Al Qaeda sympathizers, crowds take to the streets, egged on by religious leaders. But the documentary examines how the governments peace deals with tribal warlords give Al Qaeda leaders free passage for attacks and suicide bombings against coalition forces in Afghanistan. The documentary concludes by not drawing conclusions about General Musharraf. Some officials advocate getting tougher, cut off military aid, the narrator says. Others argue that America can do no more. That Musharraf is, in an imperfect world, the best and only choice. The film is of small comfort to Mr. Bush, who on the eve of midterm elections is trying to deflect criticism raised in Bob Woodwards latest book about the Iraq war, State of Denial. Its timing doesnt help, either. Return of the Taliban is scheduled to be shown on PBS stations just two days after a new video surfaced showing Mohamed Atta and Ziad al-Jarrah, two of the 9/11 hijackers, relaxed and joking in what seems to be a valedictory message taped more than a year before the attacks on American soil. Any video farewell recorded by a suicide bomber is chilling. What is most striking about this one is how middle-class, normal and confident the two men seem they are willing and eager suicide bombers, not brainwashed zombies. The Frontline documentary, like the hijackers last video and testament, is a disquieting reminder of what the world is up against when taking on a Muslim holy war. Posted by: john 2006-10-03 |
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