DISCLAIMER/WARNING: I’m sharing this Taliban video for information purposes to give people a sense of what such propaganda is like. If you think you’ll be upset or angry about some of the content, don’t look or don’t download it.
The Tailban’s Inf0-Machine has produced a new video, allegedly showing the suicide homicide bombers getting ready to execute the April 2009 attack against Kandahar government buildings.
The first mention I found of this video was on 4 Nov 09 at one of the Al Jazeera online forums (post in Arabic here, Google English translation here).
It’s almost 35 minutes long, and you can view it here, or you can download a compressed file of the video from a non-terrorist site here.
General sequence of the video (times approximate):
00:00 – Introduction
00:56 – Computer generated recreation of attack (check out the sequence on YouTube at a non-terrorist page here – note the computer graphic shows a large military-style truck, while the rest of the video shows a Toyota SUV allegedly involved in the attack)
1:32 – Assorted video of terrorist attacks on ISAF forces
2:15 – Visual bashing of various Afghan and western leaders
6:24 – Shots of (what look like) Canadian troops in (according to the Arabic commentary) Panjwai and/or Zhari, on patrol or searching compounds
7:53 – Stock news video of Kandahar governor Tooryalai Wesa with TF Afghanistan commander BGEN Jonathan Vance walking around and speaking to reporters
8:29 – Attackers “pre-martyrdom suicide pre-homicide video” clips, probably saying how happy they are to go
12:43 – Assorted shots of Toyota SUV full of explosives (with background blurred out to avoid giving away where the vehicle was loaded up)
14:08 – Taliban rule book video
14:56 – Various video of alleged Taliban dead and Taliban meeting, wandering the countryside
16:51 – Bad guys get into SUV and head to town
18:25 – Video of streets of Kandahar, with videographer in passenger seat of SUV
20:05 – Videographer gets out, and sends van on its way into attack
20:34 – Computer graphic of attack on building (see above)
20:49 – Shaky video of (what appears to be) attack, taken from far away, with gunfire heard in background
23:19 – News conference footage with flames underneath (I guess the bad guys consider this guy a bad guy)
26:09 – Governor Wesa walking around with General Vance and Canadian troops, apparently looking over the attack site
27:30 – Video of what appears to be more wreckage/LAV on streets/SUVs leaving area
28:05 – Map graphic of Afghanistan & Kandahar, with homicide bomber face shots
29:26 – Guardian newspaper graphic, with flames underneath
32-51 – Closing video montage of photos of the fallen, showing coffins and the injured being treated in the field – includes imagery from Canada, Germany, the UK, Australia, France, the Netherlands, Spain and Denmark.
I leave it to smarter men and women than I to analyze how this fits into the broader messaging program of the Taliban, but I’ll share some highlights that stood out for me.
The video shows a greyish silver Toyota SUV packed with containers full of explosive – and I mean PACKED, as in “every bit of space except the driver’s leg room” packed. Some screen captures below:
Spookiest scenes for me: bad guys waving goodbye to the videographer before driving into the building…
… and the one terrorist looking mighty pleased to be meeting his maker as he climbs into the SUV:
A glimpse at the enemy NATO is fighting in Afghanistan…
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