Received notification of this in an email....sounds interesting
FRONTLINE/World
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/
- This Week: "Children of the Taliban" and "The Most Wired Place on Earth" (60 Minutes) April 14th at 9pm on PBS (check local listings)
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"Have you seen the Taliban in your area?"
The question is put to a 10-year-old Pakistani girl near the start of this Tuesday night's broadcast of "Children of the Taliban"--correspondent Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's dangerous journey through a country under siege by an insurgent new branch of the Taliban.
"Yes, I've seen them," the girl says of the militants who've recently seized power in her region. "They're scary. They wear masks." As the girl goes on to describe the mounting horror of life under the Taliban, and her family's pain at being caught in their crossfire with the Army, she speaks with a heartbreaking straightforwardness, putting an unforgettable human face on an increasingly complex and alarming story.
This is Obaid-Chinoy's plan: To travel the country--from the lawless tribal areas to the big cities, where the Pakistani Taliban have been gaining ground--and attempt to read the country's future in the faces of the next generation. In one encounter in the once-idyllic Swat Valley, Obaid-Chinoy meets two girls whose school has just been bombed by the Taliban: One of them says she's disappointed that her father has recently made her wear the burqa; both look fearful when mortar fire goes off in the distance during the filming.
In Peshawar, Obaid-Chinoy finds two young boys whose village has been bombed--first by a U.S. missile strike from a pilot-less drone, then by the Pakistani Army. Now, one of the boys talks of joining the Taliban, and the other says he'll join the Army. In an emotional scene that raises the specter of civil war, the best friends each say they'd kill one another in battle, if necessary.
And then there's Shaheed, a fourteen-year-old student in Pakistan's increasingly conservative schools, who has come to believe that women and girls should be forbidden to walk free on the streets. "Just like the government banned plastic bags ... we should do the same with women." When Shaheed's asked what he plans to do after graduation, he says he'll join the Taliban, and carry out a suicide bombing, if asked.
"Yes, I will go to [the Taliban], and I intend to support them in their war," Shaheed says. Then he reminds Obaid-Chinoy--and her American audience--that what happens in this volatile place has repercussions: "Not just in Pakistan ... but in a war outside of Pakistan."
Also in this hour: A report from South Korea--often called "the most wired place on earth"--where correspondent Douglas Rushkoff finds a government grappling with the downside of its digital revolution: internet addiction. It's part of an innovative project called "Digital Nation" that FRONTLINE has just launched. Learn how to be part of it at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/
For more "stories from a small planet," check out FRONTLINE/World's Web site, which is currently featuring our ongoing investigation into international bribery. http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/bribe/
Ken Dornstein
Senior Producer
FRONTLINE/World
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/
FRONTLINE/World
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/
- This Week: "Children of the Taliban" and "The Most Wired Place on Earth" (60 Minutes) April 14th at 9pm on PBS (check local listings)
-----------------------
"Have you seen the Taliban in your area?"
The question is put to a 10-year-old Pakistani girl near the start of this Tuesday night's broadcast of "Children of the Taliban"--correspondent Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy's dangerous journey through a country under siege by an insurgent new branch of the Taliban.
"Yes, I've seen them," the girl says of the militants who've recently seized power in her region. "They're scary. They wear masks." As the girl goes on to describe the mounting horror of life under the Taliban, and her family's pain at being caught in their crossfire with the Army, she speaks with a heartbreaking straightforwardness, putting an unforgettable human face on an increasingly complex and alarming story.
This is Obaid-Chinoy's plan: To travel the country--from the lawless tribal areas to the big cities, where the Pakistani Taliban have been gaining ground--and attempt to read the country's future in the faces of the next generation. In one encounter in the once-idyllic Swat Valley, Obaid-Chinoy meets two girls whose school has just been bombed by the Taliban: One of them says she's disappointed that her father has recently made her wear the burqa; both look fearful when mortar fire goes off in the distance during the filming.
In Peshawar, Obaid-Chinoy finds two young boys whose village has been bombed--first by a U.S. missile strike from a pilot-less drone, then by the Pakistani Army. Now, one of the boys talks of joining the Taliban, and the other says he'll join the Army. In an emotional scene that raises the specter of civil war, the best friends each say they'd kill one another in battle, if necessary.
And then there's Shaheed, a fourteen-year-old student in Pakistan's increasingly conservative schools, who has come to believe that women and girls should be forbidden to walk free on the streets. "Just like the government banned plastic bags ... we should do the same with women." When Shaheed's asked what he plans to do after graduation, he says he'll join the Taliban, and carry out a suicide bombing, if asked.
"Yes, I will go to [the Taliban], and I intend to support them in their war," Shaheed says. Then he reminds Obaid-Chinoy--and her American audience--that what happens in this volatile place has repercussions: "Not just in Pakistan ... but in a war outside of Pakistan."
Also in this hour: A report from South Korea--often called "the most wired place on earth"--where correspondent Douglas Rushkoff finds a government grappling with the downside of its digital revolution: internet addiction. It's part of an innovative project called "Digital Nation" that FRONTLINE has just launched. Learn how to be part of it at http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/
For more "stories from a small planet," check out FRONTLINE/World's Web site, which is currently featuring our ongoing investigation into international bribery. http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/bribe/
Ken Dornstein
Senior Producer
FRONTLINE/World
http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/
