The Afghanistan Week will kick off with the showing of the documentary Min fiendes fiende: Bedraget i Helmand, followed by an on-stage discussion.
In August 2021 Western forces left Afghanistan following twenty years of military, political, and civil society presence. The departure, although sped up by the victory of the Taliban over the Afghan military, was settled in the February 2020 agreement between the United States of America and the Taliban. The agreement specified not only the U.S. military withdrawal, but that of all foreign forces from Afghanistan. However, the story of international warfare in Afghanistan is far from complete.
The documentary Min fiendes fiende: Bedragene i Helmand is a crushing criticism of Danish and British forces in Afghanistan. Despite their partial knowledge, the forces collaborated with a corrupt police chief who brutally oppressed local residents, assaulted young boys and used his position of authority to run an extensive opium trade. The film joins a long series of cases, in many countries, where abuses by international forces in Afghanistan have been documented. Do we know enough about what the Norwegian military knew and may have contributed to?
Speakers
- Graeme Smith, Senior Analyst for the International Crisis Group
- Martin Tamm Andersen, Documentary film director
- Kristian Berg Harpviken, Research Professor at PRIO
The panel will be moderated by Stig Arild Pettersen, political scientist, journalist and commentator
