From: Â Â Â Â lists@frontline.org
Subject: Â Â Â FRONTLINE – Return of the Taliban – Tuesday, Oct. 3 at 9pm on PBS (check local listings)
FRONTLINE
http://www.pbs.org/frontline/
– This Week: “Return of the Taliban” (60 minutes),
Tuesday, Oct. 3 at 9pm on PBS (check local listings)
– Inside FRONTLINE: A dangerous journey
– Live Discussion: Chat with producer Martin Smith Wed., Oct. 4, at 10
am ET
As both Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Afghan President Hamid
Karzai visited the White House last week, you may have been wondering
what is really going on along the Pakistan-Afghan border. If so, I
invite you take a look at FRONTLINE’s season premiere this Tuesday —
“Return of the Taliban.”
Veteran producer and correspondent Martin Smith travels to the wild west
of Pakistan, the tribal areas, long known for drug smuggling, gun
running, lawlessness, and as a breeding ground for jihadists. Smith
recounted to me how dangerous this particular journey felt.
“Upon leaving Peshawar, we had arranged for a Pakistani Army escort into
the Khyber District because I wanted to get some footage of the Tirah
valley, where Bin Laden is said to have gone after fleeing Tora Bora.
But the guards at the border wouldn’t let me in. ‘Too dangerous,’ they
said, ‘even with military escort. The insurgents are walking around with
rocket launchers now.'”
Much of the dramatic rise in fighting inside Afghanistan can be traced
back to the Pakistani territories where the Taliban tribal ‘cousins’
live, and the question of what to do about them has put Musharraf in a
tough position. The Americans and their coalition partners want him to
crack down and seal the border. But Musharraf, an unelected military
ruler, derives some of his political support from religious parties who
are strong in these territories and who are sympathetic to the Taliban,
if not Al Qaeda.
Smith, who found another means for reporting inside the tribal areas,
demonstrates how difficult the situation is and the reason for the big
huddle in the White House. With a sanctuary in Pakistan, the Taliban and
Al Qaeda are not only returning to Afghanistan but appear to be moving
well beyond. Several recent Al Qaeda plots abroad have been linked to
the tribal areas, and authorities in London are also investigating
possible connections in the plot to down 10 transatlantic airliners.
Also in the progam is a determined effort by Smith to obtain information
about the abduction of a Pakistani journalist, Hayat Ullah Khan, who had
worked with Smith in an earlier FRONTLINE production. More recently
Hayat revealed that a U.S. missile had killed an Al Qaeda operative
inside Pakistan contrary to the official story that he had been killed
while making a bomb. Five days after publishing the story, Hayat was
abducted and six months later his body was found in a ditch with five
bullet holes in his head and back. Because the U.S. is not supposed to
operate in Pakistan, Hayat’s report about the missile was embarrassing
to the Pakistani government. Hayat’s family believes that the government
was involved in the murder. Although the Pakistani government denies the
charge and launched several investigations, no findings have been made
public. Smith presses President Musharraf about what he knows about
this troubling case.
We invite you to join us this Tuesday night. Afterward, visit our Web
site for more about Smith’s journey and for the opportunity to watch
this report again online. And express your opinion about it at
http://www.pbs.org/frontline/taliban/
Louis Wiley, Jr.
Executive Editor
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+ Live Online Discussion on Washingtonpost.com …
Producer Martin Smith will be online this Wednesday, Oct. 4, at 10am ET,
to discuss “Return of the Taliban”
For details, see:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/discussion/2006/09/26/DI2006092600985.html
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