Afghanistan

2019 · 54m · Documentary · War & Politics

The project attempts to understand the causes of the Afghan War (1979-1989) and to provide the most truthful coverage of all its stages. On a cold day on December 12, 1979, a small circle of members of the Politburo of the CPSU Central Committee discussed the situation in Afghanistan. After much hesitation, four people (Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Andropov, Andrei Gromyko, Dmitry Ustinov) made the fateful decision to send troops into Afghanistan. Thus began the Afghan campaign – the first and only military operation waged by the Soviet Union outside the Warsaw Pact countries, which became the longest and most “forgotten” war in Soviet history.

Episodes

▶1. Episode 1On June 30, 1978, an agreement on cooperation between the KGB of the Soviet Union and the security agencies of Afghanistan was signed in Kabul. The Soviet side began to provide advisory assistance in the areas of foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, protection of senior officials and the state border. The murder of a pro-Soviet leader by the leader of the Afghan elite, Hafizul Amin, became a reason to think about sending troops into Afghanistan. Although the Soviet leadership still doubted the expediency of this step...▶2. Episode 2On June 30, 1978, an agreement on cooperation between the KGB of the Soviet Union and the security agencies of Afghanistan was signed in Kabul. The Soviet side began to provide advisory assistance in the areas of foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, protection of senior officials and the state border. The murder of a pro-Soviet leader by the leader of the Afghan elite, Hafizul Amin, became a reason to think about sending troops into Afghanistan. Although the Soviet leadership still doubted the expediency of this step...▶3. Episode 3The KGB task forces were poor at combating the Afghan guerrilla war waged by religious groups with the support of the United States and its allies. The experience of fighting the Basmachi in Central Asia in the 1920s was forgotten, and the experience of other countries was not studied. All this reduced the effectiveness of military operations and led to large and unjustified losses among Soviet troops.▶4. Episode 4The combat losses of the Soviet troops in the first five years of the war with Afghanistan were the heaviest. The impossibility of resolving the Afghan conflict by force became increasingly obvious. After signing the Geneva Accords in 1986, M.S. Gorbachev announced the beginning of a phased withdrawal of Soviet troops. Which eventually became a symptom of the destruction of the bipolar world order and a prologue to the collapse of the Soviet Union...

More Like This

Afghanistan: Getting Out

2022 · ★ 8.7

Finding a way to end a war. Insiders tell the long and troubled story of a chaotic conflict, revealing the political pressures that helped seal the fate of Afghanistan.

More info →

Royal Marines Mission Afghanistan

2012

Embedded with Lima Company of the Royal Marines during a six-month deployment in Helmand Province in Afghanistan, award-winning documentary filmmaker Chris Terrill reports on what it is really like to work in one of the most dangerous locations in the world.

More info →

The Red Empire

2022 · ★ 8

The story of an empire: From its founding in 1922 to its dissolution in 1991, the Soviet Union was shaped by revolutionary idealism, but also by oppression and decay. The USSR evolved from Stalinist terror through the Thaw under Khrushchev to political processes such as glasnost and perestroika under Gorbachev. Finally, in 1991, it collapsed.

More info →

Afghanistan: Inside Australia's War

2016

In their own words and their own extraordinary, never-before-seen helmet-cam battle footage, Australia's fighting men and women lay bare their hearts in an epic series - not just how they waged a war, but why and to what end.

More info →

The Empire Files

2015 · ★ 6.3

From inside history's biggest empire, host Abby Martin records a world shaped by war & inequality, and explores the U.S. Empire, its rise to world hegemony and its impact on people and the planet.

More info →

Ross Kemp in Afghanistan

2008 · ★ 10

Ross Kemp in Afghanistan, also known as Ross Kemp: Return to Afghanistan for series 2, is a Sky One British documentary series fronted by actor Ross Kemp about the British soldiers fighting in the War in Afghanistan as part of the International Security Assistance Force mission against the Taliban. The two series involved Kemp and a small embedded film crew following troops fighting in Helmand Province, documenting their part in the ongoing Operation Herrick. Ross Kemp in Afghanistan, first broadcast in January 2008, followed the 2007 deployment of the 1st Battalion of the Royal Anglian Regiment. As a follow-up to the first series, Ross Kemp: Return to Afghanistan, first broadcast from 1 February 2009, followed the 2008 deployment of the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, the 5th battalion of the Royal Regiment of Scotland. In the first series Kemp and his crew participate in the Vikings' initial training in Britain for the deployment. They then visit the unit during their six-month tour, filming both life at rest and on fighting patrols in Helmand. The series finally covers their return to the UK. In the follow-up series Kemp returns to Afghanistan to assess how the conflict has changed since his first visit in 2007.

More info →