“Afghan Massacre: The Convoy of Death” Broadcast for the First Time Ever in the U.S.
Eyewitnesses Testify that US Troops Were Complicit in the Massacre of up to 3,000 Taliban Prisoners During the Afghan
War
“Afghan Massacre: the Convoy of Death” - produced and directed by award-winning Irish filmmaker Jamie Doran. - The film has been broadcast on national television in countries all over the world and has been screened by the
European parliament. Human rights lawyers are calling for investigation into whether U.S. forces are guilty of war
crimes. But no U.S. media outlet has broadcast the film.
Today, on Democracy Now!, the U.S. broadcast premiere of a documentary film called “Afghan Massacre: The Convoy of
Death.”
The film provides eyewitness testimony that U.S. troops were complicit in the massacre of thousands of Taliban prisoners
during the Afghan War.
It tells the story of thousands of prisoners who surrendered to the US military’s Afghan allies after the siege of
Kunduz. According to eyewitnesses, some three thousand of the prisoners were forced into sealed containers and loaded
onto trucks for transport to Sheberghan prison. Eyewitnesses say when the prisoners began shouting for air, U.S.-allied
Afghan soldiers fired directly into the truck, killing many of them. The rest suffered through an appalling road trip
lasting up to four days, so thirsty they clawed at the skin of their fellow prisoners as they licked perspiration and
even drank blood from open wounds.
Witnesses say that when the trucks arrived and soldiers opened the containers, most of the people inside were dead. They
also say US Special Forces re-directed the containers carrying the living and dead into the desert and stood by as
survivors were shot and buried. Now, up to three thousand bodies lie buried in a mass grave.
The film has sent shockwaves around the world. It has been broadcast on national television in Britain, Germany, Italy
and Australia. It has been screened by the European parliament. It has outraged human rights groups and international
human rights lawyers. They are calling for investigation into whether U.S. Special Forces are guilty of war crimes.
But most Americans have never heard of the film. That’s because not one corporate media outlet in the U.S. will touch
it. It has never before been broadcast in this country.
Today, Democracy Now! brings you the premiere broadcast of “Afghan Massacre” in the United States.
“Afghan Massacre” is produced and directed by award-winning Irish filmmaker Jamie Doran. Doran is has worked at the
highest levels of television film production for more than two decades. His films have been broadcast on virtually every
major channel throughout the world. On average, each of his films are seen in around 35 countries. Before establishing
his independent television company, Jamie Doran spent over seven years at BBC Television.
The film was researched by award-winning journalist Najibullah Quraishi, who was beaten almost to death when he tried to
obtain video evidence of US Special Forces’ complicity in the massacre. Two of the witnesses who testified in the film
are now dead.