The new series “Kabul”, broadcast on France 2, plunges spectators into the heart of chaos which followed the capture of the Afghan capital by the Taliban in August 2021.
France 2 launches this Monday, March 31, the broadcast of Kabulan event series in 6 episodes which returns to the dramatic events occurring in the Afghan capital, in August 2021, after the withdrawal of the American troops. Written by Olivier Demangel and Thomas Finkielkraut, and produced by Kasia Adamik and Olga Chajdas, this European co -production follows the fate of an Afghan family caught in the turmoil after the sudden return of the Taliban to power on August 15, 2021.
In the casting, we find known faces like Jonathan Zaccaï (The legendary office) In the role of Gilles, in charge of the security of the French Embassy, Darina Al Jandi and Vassilis Koukalani in the roles of parents, Zahara and Baqir, or Eric Dane (Grey’s Anatomy) as CIA agent. All will have to make decisions heavy with consequences to save hundreds of Afghan and Western civilians.
While the Taliban takes control of the city, a race against the clock is committed to evacuating as many people as possible by the air from the airport still held a few hours by the American army. European diplomats, soldiers and secret agents are trying to coordinate in an explosive and chaotic situation, under the permanent threat of an Islamic State attack.
Kabula fiction inspired by acts and real testimonies
If the series Kabul Takes some liberties to build an engaging dramaturgy, it is very largely inspired by real facts. The Western debacle in Afghanistan and the evacuation in extremis of Kabul airport in August 2021 marked the spirits, after 20 years of war against the Taliban, started after the World Trade Center attack and allowing the death of Bin Laden. The striking staging of Kabul Recall the images of stunning archives of these Afghan civilians clinging to planes in a final hope of leaving a country delivered to radical Islamists.
The series Kabul Nevertheless created characters from scratch, certainly inspired by real characters or testimonies. Meetings with members of the DGSI (Directorate General of Internal Security) and DGSE (Directorate General for External Security), but also with premises … Fiction is based on authentic situations of one or the other. Which makes it a useful complement to the book and the documentary Kabul Chaosby David Martinon, former French ambassador to Afghanistan from 2018 to 2021, broadcast at the end of January on Canal+, or at work “13 days, 13 nights in the hell of Kabul”, of Commander Mohamed Bida (Denoël).
Each of these fictitious characters aims to explore the geopolitical issues and the moral dilemmas from which the real protagonists of history have been explored. To pay tribute, too, to Afghan women, the first victims of the return of obscurantism. The tension that reigned in Kabul in these sad hours is also restored, even if certain events have not occurred “in the same chronological order or in the same circumstances”, as Jonathan Zaccai said on France Info.