Type Afghanistan into Google and see what you find.
Bombings...
The explosion ripped through a wedding in Kabul, Afghanistan, killing dozens of people in...
War…
Crisis...
These are normally the pictures that come to mind when you hear the name Afghanistan.
But are these tragic events really that common?
Yes.
Tragedy strikes Afghanistan on a daily basis.
A country at war for 40 years.
But is there another side to Afghanistan that is rarely covered?
Let's find out!
The world's deadliest conflict.
The war should end in Afghanistan.
Hi, how are you?
We will smile towards life because life is worth smiling,
Not a day without violence...
We will show our resilience...
We will not allow people to know that we have weakened.
Our families shed blood for this country.
♪♪♪
So, today we're heading to a village out in the countryside.
We're leaving here Mazar-e-Sharif, which is the third biggest city in Afghanistan.
We're gonna have an armed escort by the Afghan security forces
because a few days ago there was say a lady,
A female police officer and her mother, and a civilian, taken off a bus,
a public bus, and executed by the Taliban in the road.
The bus was able to continue but they were killed tragically.
It's a daily life here, sadly, in Afghanistan, so...
We're gonna head out, should see some mountains,
and then when we get to the village, see what a village is like in rural Afghanistan.
Should be an hour or so drive,
if there's not any complications.
And should be nice to see the countryside and a local village.
♪♪♪
We drove for an hour or so, and we've arrived in the Khulm district.
The mountains are absolutely magnificent.
And there's local kids around, there's some coming I'll say hi to them, but have a look at this view.
So I think that's the foothills of the Hindu Kush mountain range,
which is the main mountain range running through Afghanistan.
It's huge!
Yeah! You can see a lot of the houses here are straw and dirt constructions.
The security behind me is very keeping an eye on me.
Welcoming local kids...
Yeah!
This is really feels like, you know, rural Afghanistan.
There's a fruit production around here,
it's pomegranate season at the moment.
Really, really nice to be out here.
-How are you? -Good! How are you?
-How are you? Good? -Anything...
We were gonna go to a different region,
but the security situation here is changing all the time.
So, we're we were gonna go had an increased Taliban rest so we came to this region instead,
and that we've got two units vehicles for us which are armored vehicles
with bulletproof glass, reinforced doors.
And then at each end of that we've got two police trucks
with a bunch of these Afghan security forces protecting us.
So, yeah!
Although it's beautiful!
It's...
It's Afghanistan.
But people are super welcoming, you know.
We're gonna head down into the township zone,
and go for a walk around the more busy streets.
Shouldn't have to say but it's one of the most powerful trips I've ever experienced.
Okay. So, now we've come up onto a viewpoint here.
It's Arion again.
And you can see all the houses here, they're built out of straw and mud basically, right?
Yeah!
People here mostly farmers.
It's very hard to find any work or work on the lands so people are compelled to go into different villages
and find work as a mason or any other labor
So, I was mentioning to the camera before about how tight security is here,
and what's the reason for that, why do we have four extremely kitted out vehicles with,
as you can see behind you one of the Afghan security forces.
Why is it so strict here?
See, it's still for the people...
It's very hard for them to comprehend that
there are people who are coming here just as humanitarian workers,
and trying to help with their children,
and vaccinate their children, immunize their children, and provide education.
You don't know who inhabits these villages.
There could be anti-government elements who do not appreciate development,
do not appreciate humanitarian work,
so that's why it becomes difficult to provide the security.
Some of these people are middle-class but most people are below poverty line,
so they normally would have two rooms,
and no matter if they have 9, 10 people at their houses, they will only have two rooms,
because keeping it warm during winter does the most important thing for them.
So they'd rather live together in winters rather they have many rooms.
The other thing that you can notice is that it's very green here,
so people normally would have a piece of land that they can provide
their families with fruit at least, and vegetables...
So, that's how life is supported here.
You work and you take the produce from the land...
That helps you to survive!
And then burn some of the twigs and some of the branches that are left from the produce in winter.
So, that's how the life cycle goes around here.
Okay. So, we've just meet a local man.
Would you mind introducing him and just ask him what he does for a job?
// Speaking native language //
Abban is 35 years old.
He's got two kids, he works in gardens.
Right now he is working on his pomegranate garden,
trying to yield that good produce so that he can sell it in market,
and make a good living from it.
I heard before that 7 Kg of pomegranate is about $ 350 AFN
which is roughly $ 6 USD, is that right?
// Speaking native language //
7 Kgs of pomegranate would go for $ 200 AFN, about $ 4 USD, but it depends on the season.
If the season is good and the one-acre land that I have it produces good result,
and I have good produced, then that season would go well for my family.
If not, then...
Most of the season we are just...
It's very hard to keep up with the expenditure for the land, like the fertilizer,
working on the land, making sure that the pomegranate or other produce don't go bad.
So that also takes away a lot of money, and then, at the end of the season,
very little is left for us to survive on.
Where does he buy supplies from?
Does he go down to the city or the town and buys general household goods?
Or does he grow them here and then just live off the land?
// Speaking native language //
Normally with the people in this village and myself is that we,
whatever we produce in our garden we take it to the city
and we exchange for some other commodity that we require.
The most challenging for us right now is safe drinking water,
we don't have good water in which results for our children developing different kind of skin diseases
that you can see on my child here.
That really hurts us and that really ails us.
Other than that, it happens that we have some good produce one year,
the other year is not good, but water is the main issue for us right now.
So, those are the negatives, right?
And so what are the positives of living here for him?
// Speaking native language //
The positive side here in my village is that there's peace.
That's a very positive thing!
We are living together as united people,
if there's a difficulty on one house,
the rest of the houses come to the aid of this house.
So we live each other’s happiness and each other’s sadness,
and that basically gives us the motivation to move forward,
to look the future with positivity.
There's a really strong sense of camaraderie here?
There is! Yeah! Yeah! Everybody comes to each other help.
If one person do not have enough,
then other person lends to him wheat or flour so they can survive.
If one person do not have wood to burn in the winter,
other people comes together and provides them so that the entire village can survive together.
Right, okay.
// Speaking native language //
Another thing that you have to take into consideration here,
I'm okay in the village here but if I was to stray too far off of the perimeter,
there's a high chance of landmines, from the days of when the Soviets were here.
There's all these different elements playing into this situation here.
There is a big demining operation from the United Nations as well,
but there's always the risk and...
You know, you can see behind me those kids playing,
Sometimes they can be the victims.
And also sometimes the Taliban find the mines
and they'll turn them into IEDs,
so bombs that they can use in other areas to cause explosions, but...
From what I can say of this area, it's got a really nice feeling at the moment,
very quiet and peaceful...
// Speaking native language //
Very quiet and peaceful, and...
You know you can see there's the strong strength of community here,
which is quite beautiful, I think.
// Speaking native language //
Okay. So we've just come down to the town where that men that we interviewed earlier
who sells fruit... He brings it down here, right?
Yes!
And he sells it to the locals here, or trade the thing.
This is the main market for Khulm District,
and that guy and other villagers would normally bring their produce here,
they would put it here on the roadside and people would buy it.
So this is the market, a bit small,
but this is where people do their business and make their living from.
There's something really interesting that I think a lot of people will be surprised to see.
There's a big American flag here, right?
Yeah! It's surprisingly to me too.
// Speaking native language //
I bought it for $ 200 AFN from somebody who was selling it,
and I put it down here, most people don't know what this flag is.
-Somebody told me this American flag. -Right.
-But I'm fine with it. -Okay.
And what's his views of the USA?
// Speaking native language //
So, I don't know, I don't know what kind of country is... I really don't know.
-He feels neutral, nothing towards to... -Yeah! Neutral...
Okay, cool!
So, there's some political activity in this area at the moment,
so we can't spend too long.
And we're pretty much surrounded by guys with big weapons and stuff.
And this American flag really stood out to me, but...
I think a lot of you guys will find that fascinating.
Much than I do, because it's not the first image you think of when you think in Afghanistan.
-How are you? -Good! How are you?
I'm okay!
-Do you speak English? -No, no...
-A little bit... -Yes!
What are you doing today?
// Speaking native language //
Suhayla is 23 years old, this is his shop.
He sells different things like plastic, made things,
he sells plates and any groceries at the houses need.
This is he's shop, he comes every morning, works until evening.
How is the business?
// Speaking native language //
The previous year used to be very good,
but now things are not looking that nice.
But it's good!
The good thing is that we have peace, and hopefully it will get better.
You say we have peace... In this town there's not too many problems?
// Speaking native language //
Yeah! There are not too many security incidents,
if we look the 100%, maybe 10% is insecurity,
that also petty crimes, nothing major.
-Thank you! -Good luck!
Cheers!
// Speaking native language //
From two years old, but since I was my children's age, 10 years old,
I used to come to my father's shop and work with him.
So, since 10 years old I only know about shop, and shop keeping...
So that's why I brought my children as well,
I have 3 sons and 2 daughters.
They would be working with me and they would then take over from me.
Is he happy doing this job?
// Speaking native language //
Well, of course, I'm very happy.
Because we have peace which is the most important thing for us,
we have security, and with security I'm also healthy.
My health, that's also very important.
Two people have said that it's peaceful here, so...
Does he get a feeling that this is one of the most preferable places to live
in terms the security in the whole country of Afghanistan?
// Speaking native language //
I think I will call it that it's one of the most peaceful place and most secure place in Afghanistan.
People are living in unity and harmony, and we're very happy with our security forces
because they provide good security, we've had no security incident.
What's his opinion of the international community coming to Afghanistan?
// Speaking native language //
I think Afghanistan has been at war for too long, and with the international friends,
and those who are coming to help Afghanistan...
It's very good and their welcome because it's going to help with our economy,
it will boost our economy, it will boost the standard of living,
it will make up Afghans have a better life... So that's a good thing!
Okay.
One last question, what's for lunch?
// Speaking native language //
So, we have fish food today, my son's wanted fish today,
so I said: "Okay. Let's get fish for lunch today".
Alright! Alright! Is that delicious?
-It's very delicious, do you want? -No, thank you!
♪♪♪
So, back in the city...
I found that really special to go out and see how the village people live.
There was a point when we actually pulled up at this old library,
and when we arrived there was all different kinds of security forces,
Afghan police, Afghan military, paramilitary, there were bullet holes in the wall.
Troops on the roof, troops on the perimeter, troops up close to the door,
and we were gonna go into this library and see the gardens and things,
but it was quite a dodgy atmosphere,
and the security adviser advised us not to spend any time there
because things can kind of go wrong military.
And police can sometimes turn on each other.
We didn't want to be involved in any kind of crossfire or anything.
So, we kind of got out of there.
It was pretty extreme scene, wall-to-wall military.
I did get a photo of one of the soldiers.
I'll put it up here.
I'll be chucking that up on my Instagram with a few more photos
if you want to check them out.
And we also went to, I didn't film it because that I filmed in past videos,
but we also went to another immunization clinic that UNICEF funds as well.
The doctors taking care of malnutrition as well there,
there was a few kids receiving the sachets I showed you in the other videos,
and the immunization, and some other treatment that kids were getting there.
So, again, obviously this is a, you can see people are in die need of help here.
So, I just want to emphasize again UNICEF isn't paying me anything to be here,
They did organize the whole trip for me and everything,
and I don't have to say this but, again, if you want to help out a bit,
I'm gonna leave the link down below and you can chip in a couple of dollars if you can.
Only if you can!
Another mind-bending fascinating day here in Afghanistan.
Tomorrow the journey continues leaving this city.
So, I will see you in that video.
And in case I don't see you... Good afternoon! Good evening! And good night!
We are living together as united people.
If there's a difficulty on one house,
the rest of the houses come to the aid of this house.
So we live each other's happiness and each other's sadness,
and that basically gives us the motivation to move forward,
to look the future with positivity.