11th November 2001|Channel 4
As America starts its bombing campaign of Afghanistan in retaliation for the September 11th World Trade Center attacks, Saira Shah returns to report on the impact of the war on the ordinary Afghans. After spending several days making contacts in Peshawar, and investigating the Pakistani attitude to the US operation, Saira and cameraman/director James Miller discover the Afghan-Pakistan border is sealed.
The only remaining method of entry into Afghanistan from Pakistan is over the HIndu Kush: a treacherous mountain range, which they are forced to navigate on foot. Following days of arduous travelling they arrive, and make their way to Mawmaii, the village where, six months previously during the shooting of ‘Beneath the Veil’, they found 3 young girls whose mother had been murdered by the Taliban. The girls are still in the village when James and Saira arrive, but the outlook for them is bleak.