Dickinson to Present Screening of Emmy-Winning Documentary on War in Afghanistan
Filmmaker Baktash Ahadi. Photo courtesy National Geographic.
Filmmaker has ties to Carlisle
by Ella Layton '26
Dickinson will host a screening of the Emmy-winning documentary Retrograde, which deals with the human cost of the final months of U.S involvement in Afghanistan. A Q&A will follow the screening featuring Baktash Ahadi, the filmmaker; as well as the subject of the film, Asem Shukoori; Farida Mohammadi, a member of the Afghan Female Tactical Platoon; and Chris Mason, a professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Army War College. The program will be held Thursday, Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. at the Carlisle Theatre. The event is free and open to the public.
The film depicts the last nine months of the United States’ 20-year war in Afghanistan before complete U.S. withdrawal in August 2021. Retrograde won three Emmys for documentary: outstanding current affairs, outstanding cinematography and outstanding editing.
Ahadi is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and storyteller. He was born in Kabul, but he and his family fled to seek asylum due to the 1984 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Eventually, they settled in Carlisle. Ahadi went back to his home country by serving in the Marines as a combat interpreter. After returning to Afghanistan, he founded the Taleem Project, which prioritizes giving voice to refugees who have been subject to forced migration, conflict and violence. He has worked on documentaries including Afghanistan by Choice and Muslim in Trump’s America.
Shukoori graduated from the Indian Military Academy and has served in the Afghan National Army and Joint Special Operations Command Combined Situational Awareness Room. In 2020, he served as commander’s aide in the 215th Maiwand Corp, located in Helmand province, where he worked side by side with U.S. Special Forces. He currently serves as the regional ambassador for Afghan Special Operations Veterans in Virginia.
Mohammadi was a member of the Afghan Female Tactical Platoon, an organization composed of Afghan women militarily and medically trained by U.S. Special Forces to contribute to fight against the Taliban.
Mason is the research director of the Study of Internal Conflict (SOIC) at the Strategic Studies Institute and is considered one of America's leading experts on Afghanistan. Mason has extensive experience with the U.S. Department of State and in the Marine Corps, including service on the Afghanistan Interagency Task Group for three years and deployments to Afghanistan in 2002 and 2005. He currently teaches the U.S. Army War College course on insurgency and counterinsurgency and the course on the Vietnam War. Mason has published more than 30 articles and books on the war in Afghanistan, including Strategic Lessons Unlearned: Why the Afghan National Army Will Not Hold in 2014.
The screening is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and the Carlisle Theatre.
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Published October 25, 2023