Inside Afghanistan with BBC Correspondent Ben Andersen
Submitted by: VBS.tv
2008-10-06 23:03:43
(OPENPRESS) October 7, 2008 -- In the new VBS.tv series Inside Afghanistan VBS joins BBC correspondent and former Iranian captive Ben Anderson to review the current situation in the country through the complex and violent footage he shot on his latest foray to the colossally mismanaged logjam that is NATO's war against the resurgent Afghani Taliban. Inside Afghanistan, an 8 part series running all this week, helps to explain what is going on in the war front, and more importantly what is going wrong and how do we fix it.
Watch Inside Afghanistan with Ben Andersen on VBS.tv - http://www.vbs.tv/video.php?id=1832267517
June 2008 was the worst month for military deaths in Afghanistan since the beginning of the war almost seven years ago. This past weekend, Britain's senior commander, Brig.-Gen. Mark Carleton-Smith, said that an absolute military victory in Afghanistan is impossible. Upon hearing that news and feeling chipper about the situation the Taliban rejected any idea of tabling a settlement with Karzai. What is going on?
Ben Andersen on the series: "This series is about 24 hours in Helmand, Afghanistan's most violent province. I was with the Queen's Company, British soldiers who normally guard Buckingham Palace. Their job was to train the Afghan National Army while fighting the Taliban, an almost impossible combination. On the day this was shot, we were ambushed late in the morning, then surrounded in a small house belonging to a terrified Afghan family. The battle to get out of the house lasted eight hours. The two most senior soldiers there - both veterans of Iraq, Bosnia, Kosovo, and Northern Ireland - agreed that it was the most intense day they had ever experienced. I spent two months in Afghanistan, and I'm sure that what I saw in Helmand is going on in many other parts of the country. We could be there for decades."
Read about Ben's 8 Days of Iranian interrogation in Vice Magazine - http://www.viceland.com/int/v13n8/htdocs/lifetime.php?country=us
If you happen to have an accent and are British and live in Great Britain you can watch another chapter from Ben's Afghan travels in Jack, A Soldier's Story on BBC3. Ben Anderson catches up with 24-year-old Lance Corporal Jack Mizon of the Queen's Company, Grenadier Guards. Mizon was a hero in Aghanistan, in the thick of some of the fiercest fighting that left two of his fellow soldiers dead and many more seriously wounded. He was honoured for his bravery, but back home in the UK he is struggling to readjust to civilian life and has become involved in frequent fights near his Aldershot barracks.
Anderson followed his exploits for two months in Afghanistan and then back home as Jack is charged with assault and GBH, stripped of his rank and facing the prospect of four years in a civilian prison.
Get more info here - http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00dyhs1
