Nima’s Story

Watch part two

Filmmaker: Rajesh Thind

In the past 30 years, the people of Afghanistan have seen foreign invasion, civil war and a series of shifting rulers.

Nima Arghandabi has seen much of this conflict first hand. An Afghan from the southern Pashtun region, he was living near Kandahar when the Soviet Union invaded in 1979.

Three years later, aged 19, he became one of the anti-Soviet Mujaheddin fighter, fighting for Afghanistan’s indepencence.

Nima was a UN camp worker in the 1990s, helping his people recover from the aftermath of conflict.

But as the Taliban seized power in 1996, he was forced to flee to the UK, leaving his family behind. Nima’s wife had died during the conflict and his three children were taken to a refugee camp in Pakistan with their grandparents.

In 2001, his children got the permission to join him in London – but the day they flew to the UK was 11 September 2001, and in the aftermath of the terror attacks, Nima’s life took yet another unplanned turn.

Filmed over nine years, Nima’s Story is an intimate film about a life lived in the crosswinds of war and migration.

It tells the story of one remarkable man’s personal battle to adjust to a new life in a new country while struggling to contribute something positive to a homeland once again being ripped apart by conflict.

Nima’s Story can be seen from Sunday, August 23 at the following times GMT: Sunday: 0830, 1900; Monday: 0330, 1400 and 2330.