Afghanistan: Five years after chaotic US military withdrawal, Afghan survivors still bear scars of war.

Shotlist Kunar Province, Afghanistan - Aug 28, 2026 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland) 1. Various of villagers talking 2. SOUNDBITE (Dari) Shakerullah, local villager (full name not given) (ending with shot 3): "Later in the last month of 2018, our home was attacked once again. In that strike, 36 people in our neighborhood was killed, including my parents, siblings, uncles, nephews, and their spouses. There were 18 members of my family died. Those who survived injured as well. We went through all these atrocities just because our 'sin' is being Afghan." 3. Various of villagers leaving home, walking up hill 4. SOUNDBITE (Dari) Sayed Agha Jan, local villager (starting with shot 3): "When the strike occurred, there were around 60 people in two families. Around 40 people from one family unfortunately lost their lives. The situation at the time made it impossible for us to return home. Our minds were in complete chaos. The conditions were extremely dire. We dug graves, about one and a half arm-lengths plus a hand's width deep. We marked each grave, writing the names on them so we wouldn't mix them up." 5. Various of Shakerullah, Sayed 6. SOUNDBITE (Dari) Sayed Agha Jan, local villager: "All the dead people were buried here. The United States should compensate us. The whole world needs to know our suffering as we've borne too much." 7. Various of Shakerullah, Sayed sitting on bench Storyline After the chaotic U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, Afghan survivors continue to grapple with profound physical, emotional, and economic devastation. During the time of the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan between 2001 and 2021, a large number of innocent Afghan civilians were killed directly by the 20-year war. Although the war ended five years ago, the pain and the loss it triggered has never faded for those who narrowly-escaped. Shakerullah is a local villager living in Kunar Province. His family was under U.S. army attacks twice with over 50 people in his family being killed. Shakerullah was studying outside at that time and thus escaped the disaster, but he still lives in grave pain because of insufferable loss. The first strike on his family came in Dec 2012, when the U.S. troops searched multiple houses and killed 26 villagers including children and women, with 19 of them being relatives of Shakerullah. Some villagers managed to survive from the first ordeal, but they didn't know that misfortune befell on them for the second time. "Later in the last month of 2018, our home was attacked once again. In that strike, 36 people in our neighborhood was killed, including my parents, siblings, uncles, nephews, and their spouses. There were 18 members of my family died. Those who survived injured as well. We went through all these atrocities just because our 'sin' is being Afghan," said Shakerullah. Sayed Agha Jan, another local villager, witnessed the atrocities. After the attacks, he helped to bury the dead. The miserable memory has still haunted him till these days. "When the strike occurred, there were around 60 people in two families. Around 40 people from one family unfortunately lost their lives. The situation at the time made it impossible for us to return home. Our minds were in complete chaos. The conditions were extremely dire. We dug graves, about one and a half arm-lengths plus a hand's width deep. We marked each grave, writing the names on them so we wouldn't mix them up," Sayed said. During the U.S. occupation, the crimes committed by the U.S. military in this small village were covered up. Those villagers who were severely traumatized by them wish these evils will be exposed to the world. "All the dead people were buried here. The United States should compensate us. The whole world needs to know our suffering as we've borne too much," said Sayed.