| Leon decided to try to make a documentary in Afghanistan from the moment the Soviet invasion became known to the world. He knew some Farsi and Russian and had for a long time been interested in Afghan culture and philosophy. He felt that the standard image of the religious Mujahed projected in the media cotnrasted with how he had been accustomed to perceive this free-minded and humoristic nation. He asked the late writer Idries Shah (who was of Afghan descent) for advice and was with his help eventually introduced to people through which the project was made possible. Initially a great amount of obstacles delayed the project. Especially the efforts of the KGB to infiltrate the various Mujahed organisations made the project risky - as many filmmakers and journalists were caught and killed in ambushes, executed or put in jail. At last in spring 1986 Leon could make the first trip to Peshawar in Pakistan to meet Mujahedeen who could take him into Afghanistan. He made a first crossing into Paktia (East Afghanistan) in March and had his first experience of what it was like to work in a war zone. | |
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