This gripping documentary traces the perilous exfiltration mission led by France in August 2021 to escape the Taliban threat.
In August 2021, the whole world has its eyes on Kabul Airport. The cameras are recording live the crushing failure of American policy and the shift of a country towards fear. Thousands of Afghans, whose determination reflected the feeling of panic, clung to planes ready to take off.
This chaos, the documentary Operation Apagan, exfiltrate Kabul illustrates it effectively, with precise facts and testimonies. It focuses more precisely on retracing the operation carried out by France to exfiltrate the last members of its embassy, as well as Afghans who worked for France, dual nationals, officials or intellectuals threatened by the new power. Around 2,800 people, including 2,600 Afghans. A perilous mission that this impeccable film directed by Bernard George retraces day after day on M6 .
Situation inflammable
« Leave now. » This is the message that French Ambassador David Martinon received in mid-August from the NATO general delegate, while Kabuliots rushed to the banks and Afghan soldiers hastily took off their uniforms. . The capital is preparing to fall into the hands of the Islamists, following the departure of American forces and the military debacle of the national army, chapters that the documentary summarizes a little quickly. It is now a question of securing, after several waves of departure between May and July, the exfiltration of those whom France protects.
The film, which is its whole point, sheds light on the difficult decision-making processes and the dilemmas that punctuate such operations. What to do when the Taliban circle dangerously around Afghans massed in front of the gates of the French embassy? The security services mention the risk of allowing these civilians to enter the building. The ambassador insists on the danger incurred outside. They will enter, before being duly checked.
Then there is the question of getting to the airport. The Taliban have certainly signed a peace agreement, committing to securing Western withdrawals, but the situation remains uncertain. And flammable. « I was afraid we'd run into a sniper »details a Raid major. The Americans offer to provide armored vehicles. « Very bad option, which will be seen as an aggressive posture »judges the ambassador, who prefers a discreet convoy. The French approach a Taliban dignitary who reassures them of the possibility of crossing the city. This will not prevent other armed men from stopping the cars a little further away. A performer remembers the tension of those moments.
« Incredible human chaos »
The situation at the airport will give more cold sweats to the French, who discover a « incredible human chaos »to quote a young soldier. The sanitary conditions there are deplorable. Certain artists to whom France has promised its protection must cross the compact crowd on their own. The attack perpetrated by the Islamic State on August 26, which Western forces unfortunately knew was imminent, put an end to operations. They will continue in September. Today, many asylum requests continue to be sent to France.
This documentary ends with the regrets of an artist, who mourns her country and her previous life. At the same time, images of a military plane leaving the blue sky of Kabul appear. They allow us to imagine, off-camera, the thousands of Afghans condemned to live under a cruel administration, which goes so far as to forbid women from studying, from walking in a park or from singing.
