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Footage Recovered from Dead Taliban Fighter in Pirkowti
Published 3 years ago
Footage recovered by coalition forces shows some of the last moments of a Taliban fighter's life during what was a 13-hour running gun battle with Taliban forces.
Videos like this can easily humanize the Taliban, so I'm going to preface this video by saying the following. These guys are 8th century barbarians who will chop your hand off if you steal bread when you are starving. They will stone and flog women to death for the petty crime of talking to a man they aren't related to on the telephone. Taliban fighters will come into your home, take your 12-year-old daughter, and force her to marry a 50-year-old retired Taliban fighter, and they won't even think twice about it. These are all absolute facts that cannot be changed, no matter how much Twitter likes the current administration.
Now that's out of the way, let's talk about the video for a second. What you're seeing is the Taliban perspective of a gunfight with coalition forces. In fact, you're seeing about ten minutes of it. If you've ever been in a gunfight with the Taliban, then you already know what the Coalition forces perspective looks like. It's fire and maneuver. Strong-pointing hardened positions. Calling in airstrikes and dominating your space.
The Taliban perspective however is a little different. It's hiding in tree cover so pilots can't see you. It's watching troops maneuver so you can find the opportune time to sling rounds at them while they're in the open. It's picking rocks out of your sandals and trying not to trip on your dishdasha. It's waiting for an explosive to fall from the sky like a hammer specifically meant to end your life.
After thirteen hours in a running gun battle with coalition forces, that's exactly what happened to these guys. This footage was recovered by coalition forces in Pirkowti, a region in the East Paktika Province.
