The New York Times
03/08/2010
By Jeannette Catsoulis
[Printer Friendly Version]

Ajmal Naqshbandi

En route to a 2007 interview with a Taliban warlord in Afghanistan, the Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo and his 24-year-old interpreter, Ajmal Naqshbandi, were kidnapped. Mr. Mastrogiacomo was released (in a complicated deal that included the release of five Taliban prisoners and a new road said to have been paid for by the Italian government), but his companion was detained and eventually murdered.

Image from a video broadcast by Italian RAI state television TG1 newscast Tuesday April 10, 2007, showing the instants before the purported execution in March 2007 by the Taliban of Afghan driver Sayed Agha, blindfolded at right on the ground, who had been kidnapped with Italian La Repubblica daily journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo, second from left blindfolded, and freelance journalist Ajmal Naqshbandi, bottom left blindfolded. The Taliban said later that it had beheaded Naqshbandi. Mastrogiacomo was freed after a much-criticized prisoner swap with the Taliban.

As unsettling and complex as the country it traverses, Fixer: The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi, Ian Oldss stunning documentary, swings between events surrounding that murder and footage shot six months earlier, when Mr. Naqshbandi, an Afghan journalist, was assisting Christian Parenti of The Nation. With one timeline providing context for the other, the film illuminates not only the extreme dangers faced by journalists and their Afghan facilitators (or, fixers) but also the extreme stasis of a country choking on corruption and barbarism.

Gathering multiple media sources including repulsive Taliban-produced videos, their full horror barely concealed by an onscreen black box Fixer memorializes a soft-spoken, savvy young man whose motivations remain stubbornly vague. Behind the camera, Mr. Olds works with melancholic artistry, his lens bouncing across fields of cannabis and arid, rubble-strewn roads. Like his terrific 2006 documentary, Occupation: Dreamland (which followed a group of American soldiers stationed in Falluja, Iraq), Fixer is a deeply disorienting film propelled by a jagged anxiety that permeates every image and interview.

Cradled by a haunting soundtrack, Ajmal Naqshbandi lends a human face to a political tragedy so grand we may prefer to disengage. Mr. Olds would prefer that we not.

FIXER
The Taking of Ajmal Naqshbandi
Opens on Tuesday in Manhattan.
Directed and edited by Ian Olds; director of photography, Mr. Olds; music by Growing; produced by Mr. Olds and Nancy Roth. At the Maysles Cinema, 343 Malcolm X Boulevard, between 127th and 128th Streets, Harlem. Running time: 1 hour 24 minutes. This film is not rated.

Driven Away by a War, Now Stalked by Winter’s Cold The New York Times (02/04/2012)

Civilians among 49 killed in Helmand Pajhwok (02/03/2012)

U.S.-Held Taliban as Bargaining Chips Draw Republican Criticism Bloomberg (02/03/2012)

Adios Afghanistan Fox News (02/03/2012)

Snowfall, rains to end drought, hope growers Pajhwok (02/03/2012)

No winners in Afghanistan’s war The Financial Times (02/03/2012)

Plan for early end to US combat role catches Afghan officials by surprise The Christian Science Monitor (02/03/2012)

Premature Evacuation? Foreign Policy (02/03/2012)

Panetta comment prompts questions, concerns in Afghanistan The Washington Post, Editorial (02/03/2012)

The administration’s muddled message on Afghanistan The Washington Post, Editorial (02/03/2012)

Panetta Draws Fire Over Afghan Shift The Wall Street Journal (02/03/2012)

NATO members rattled by U.S. combat plan on Afghanistan The Los Angeles Times (02/03/2012)

The Taliban who may leave Gitmo CNN (02/03/2012)

Afghanistan fears early US pull-out The Financial Times (02/03/2012)

'This terrible war could have ended in a month’ Telegraph (02/03/2012)

U.S. tries to ease confusion over Afghan plans Reuters (02/03/2012)

'Substantial’ British troop pull-out from Afghanistan planned for early 2013 Telegraph (02/03/2012)

In winding down war, a fundamentally different challenge in Afghanistan than in Iraq The Washington Post (02/03/2012)

To the Afghan Exits The Wall Street Journal (02/03/2012)

Romney Criticizes Afghan Pullout Plan, but Obama Is Eager for the Debate The New York Times (02/03/2012)

50pc of US aid to be used in 2 years: Zakhilwal Pajhwok (02/03/2012)

Is Israel preparing to attack Iran? Reuters (02/02/2012)

Plan to scale back U.S. Afghan role worries, surprises Reuters (02/02/2012)

U.S., NATO seek to clarify Panetta comments on ending Afghan mission The Washington Post (02/02/2012)

Courting Disaster In Afghanistan The Weekly Standard (02/02/2012)

The Hard Way Out of Afghanistan The New York Times (02/02/2012)

"Peace with Honour" is Another Way of Saying Defeat The Huffington Post (02/02/2012)

The Empire’s graveyard Khaleej Times (02/02/2012)

Sacrifices in vain on the Afghanistan war path ABC (02/02/2012)

Reading the Taliban The Economist (02/02/2012)