The Road to Guantanamo

The only thing I know for certain is that

these are bad people.

We look forward to working with the Blair

Governnment to deal with the issue

My parents went to Pakistan

and they saw a bride for me.

My mum come back said I

should go out to Pakistan and get married.

So I got a ticket and I went.

Can I help?

I'm all right.

Have you got everything?

-I'll be ten minutes.

-Okay, hurry up, quickly.

I didn't really wanna go

because I had a job, I was working.

But she was telling me

"lt"s time for you to go to Pakistan"

I left from Birmingham Airport.

And from there I went

straight to Faisalabad.

And then I caught a taxi to my village.

My father was there at the time.

- Oh, Salaam. Hello, Asif, how are you?

- Good. i'm alright.

I was there for about four days.

I saw the girl and I decided

I would get married.

So I phone Ruhel.

-Hello, Ruhel?

- Asif, what go on? I ain't heard

from you in long, man.

Well, when he asked me to go to his

wedding, I thought "Yeah, why not?"

"End of the day he's my friend

and I should go!"

And also, it' be great holiday.

See you later, all right.

- Come back soon.

- All right. I'll come back soon.

Bye.

I wanted to go to Asif's wedding,

plus I hadn't been to Pakistan for like 13 years

And I wanted to see

some of my family again.

-You got a passport, yeah? Visa? everything?

- Yeah, i got it, man.

- You all right, Monir, yeah?

- Yeah, i'm good, man. How are you?

oh, Can't believe we're going to Pakistan, man.

It's gonna be mad.

Mlonir was a very nice guy

He was Bengali like me

He would never say anything

bad against anybody.

We landed at Karachi.

We didn't want to stay in the hotel

cos we thought it'd be expensive.

So we went to a mosque.

- Salaam alaikum.

- Alaikum salaam.

Crowds marching in the streets

of Karachi today...

...organised by Pakistan's Islamic parties,

they're supporters of the Taliban.

It's one sign of the politcal turmoil that seems...

certain to follow American military

intervention in Afghanistan

We spent about a week in Karachi.

Walked around sightseeing.

Going shopping, just chilling out.

Shafiq went to visit his family...

...so me and Monir had

a few days to ourselves.

They were supposed to come

to the Village, but, instead...

...I ended up going to Karachi.

When Shafiq came back to Karachi,

he brought his cousin Zahid with him.

- Where are you from in Pakistan?

- I'm from Multan.

Ruhel was kind of like my best friend, yeah.

Even though he was Bengali.

I'Ve known Asif since the day he was born.

- What's been going on, man?

- Mainly I've just been shitting.

It was Friday prayers and we were

walking past the mosque.

A lot of people were going in,

so we went in with them

The bombing of Afghanistan!...

...the forcible change

of power in Afghanistan...

...this can only lead to chaos and terror.

People get hyped.

Then they start shouting slogans out.

The preacher was saying "You should help

the Afghani people wherever you can".

And also was thinking of going to see what

Afghanistan is really like.

If everyone agrees to go, then we go.

Because it's only 250 rupees.

If we're going there, we're going,

One:
For experience and Two: To help

You know the food there as well...

You know the naans?

Big naans, you know that. Big naans.

I've seen naans this big.

What language do they speak there?

Can I speak Urdu to them or what?

- I think they speak Pushtu there.

- Pushtu?

We don't know yeah, basically....

The only way we know is if we go and see it.

Grab that cushion, man.

Give him the rice and that.

No-one's even eating it.

If that's all we're doing in Afghanistan,

that'll be a good thing, you know what i mean.

Basically, while i was there, the two weeks,

all the people I spoke to in Pakistan...

...they were saying,

"Oh, Afghanistan's not gonna get attacked".

So, we jumped on a bus and off we went.

- Are you all right?

- No.

In Pakistan many people

have beards.

There are always good

and bad people.

Have you seen the flies up there?

In the night, the bus driver hit someone.

An we all got out to look.

The bus driver just ran off.

So we had to find another bus driver

to drive us to Quetta.

When we got to Quetta,

we had to change buses.

Just before we got to the border,

we stopped at a mosque.

That's how I got left behind.

Where's Shaf?

Stop! We've left someone!

Can you take me to the Afghan border?

Border trade continues unimpeded.

Amongst those crossing are

brave Afghan aid workers.

The people rely on them for food

and health care...

...and to explain their needs

to the outside world.

They come on motorbikes and we paid

them, 200 rupees.

An they took us across the border.

- We'll come back for you tomorrow.

- Shut up...

I ended up walking across the border.

No-one stopped me.

Where the f*** were you?!

You d*ckheads. How could you f***ing

leave without me, man?

You love to sh*t, dldnt you?

Next time you can sh*t in the van

Hurry up.

And when we crossed the border,

it looked like "Oh, it's nothing...

...you just cross over", it's not even like

going into a different country.

But once we got there, it was

a different situation.

You see that?

Soon as we got to Kandahar, that's when

the bombings start happening.

F***ing sh*t.

Look at that.

It's terrifying.

You see something like that

in the movies only.

Please let me sleep.

Why are you making noise?

I feel like sh*t, man.

Oi...Look at them naans.

F***ing big.

- Yeah, they're massive.

- We'll get two.

Give me some.

Kandahar in the south of Afghanistan.

The Taliban heartland.

These pictures from Al-Jazeera show

support for the Taliban...

...seems still strong here despite

American bombing.

Long live Osama Bin Laden!

We just spent one day in Kandahar and

then we left for Kabul.

The journey to Kabul was terrible.

Just go to sleep.

By the time you wake up, we'll be there.

Can we stop? He's really sick.

No, we're not stopping.

How far is it to Kabul?

Ten to twelve hours away.

Are you okay?

You're fine. Don't worry so much.

There's nothing wrong with you.

Tell him to shut up, man, Asif, man

Pull yourself together.

- Is he hot, man?

- Tell him to shut the f*** up, man.

We'll stop a few minutes.

US bombing raids continue

around the clock...

...attacking Taliban tanks and trenches

north of Kabul.

We stayed in Kabul for about

two and a half weeks.

(RUHEL):
Wait, I want to buy some...

- Let's get out of here before we get mobbed.

SHAFIQ:
(MUMBLES) - Mad f***ing sh*t, man.

Do you want a bite,man? Do you want a bite?

It stinks.

It's just like spices and sh*t, man.

(RUHEL) Enough of that sh*t, yeah?

He went that bad in Afghanistan that I

thought he was gonna die.

- How are you feeling?

- I'm cold, man.

Put your head up, man. Put your head up.

- This bread is sh*t.

- Better than nothing.

You know the stuffed crust pizzas...

...with the melted cheese in the crust,man.

I think the naan's getting to you.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes