(A)fghanistan, un Etat impossible

“In 1973, at the age of eleven, I was preparing the entrance exam to the Franco-Afghan high school in Estqlal. The same year, Daoud overthrew the King, his cousin and brother-in-law, thereby putting an end to the Afghan monarchy. My father, who was a monarchist, was put into prison. I never understood why he supported the King, nor why he enjoyed repeating that the coup d’etat that had toppled the King would cost Afghanistan its ‘a’. “Afghanistan means ‘land of the Afghans’. With an ‘a’ short, it changes to ‘fghanistan’, which literally means ‘land of laments and cries’!” Since then, events have unfortunately given his words a prophetic note. And 28 years later, I am constantly asking myself the same question. Why has Afghanistan been in a state of collapse since 1973? The film is a journey through three decades, in search of a broken mirror that I am trying to put together again so as to rediscover my identity, my country and my destiny, which, since 11th September 2001, has become the destiny of the world.” (Atiq Rahimi)