All language subtitles for Saving Mes Aynak (2014)

- Our role here is to
provide as much as we can

expertise and technical support
to our Afghan colleagues

and also to train them

in order to be able to
handle this operation.

Now we know maybe
10% of the site,

and the potential is
showing that 90% of the site

is still to be excavated.

So it means that
the more interesting
thing about this site

are going to be discovered,

even if what have been
discovered already

is absolutely stupendous.

- A lot of very interesting,
well-preserved in this area.

What we have seen already
was the top of the iceberg,

and now we are going
little by little

down to the bottom
of the iceberg.

- Mes Aynak, as
a trading center,

would have had people
coming from China,

from the Mediterranean,
from South Asia.

It would have been a crossroads

for everything that we
know of the Old World.

Mes Aynak is one of the most
important sites in the century,

And I'm involved with research
in South Asia and West Asia.

I've been working in China,

and being able to look at
the materials from Mes Aynak

is at the top of the list.

Mes Aynak was the earliest
major copper-working area.

There's a huge complex
of Buddhist monasteries

associated with copper-working.

And there's
something on top too?

This type of construction,

I haven't seen this
in Taxila area.

This is unique to Afghanistan.

The materials that are coming
from Mes Aynak are exquisite.

Walking around the site,
I was surprised to see

as much manufacturing
debris laying around.

It's a huge piece of slate.

Copper prills or
fragments of tuyeres,

the things that you blast
air into furnaces with.

Grinding stones that are
used for crushing ore.

And they were everywhere.

There were so many of them

that the archeologists just
leave them on the ground.

I've never seen wood
at a Buddhist site

in Pakistan or
any other regions.

This site has
preservation on a scale

that no other sites have.

- We will be able to
remove 10,000 of our troops

from Afghanistan by
the end of this year,

and we will bring home
a total of 33,000 troops

by next summer.

By 2014, the Afghan
people will be responsible

for their own security.

- It's very challenging to
try to train all these people

and to help them
to do their world.

'Cause it is complicated

if you have understand
the fact is that,

well, there are many workers,

there are always problem of
delays in payment and so on.

It's very challenging both
from a scientific point of view

and also from, say, a
technical point of view.

And management of the people
here, it's quite big issue

and a very interesting one.

- The Aynak copper
mines will create

direct and indirect
job plus/minus 7,000,

and they will develop the area

and they will create a job.

So if you calculate
it all together,

the impact in the
national economy

is coming about 1.2
billion dollars.

And how does
the average person, Afghan

benefit from that?

- If you divide it
by the population,

that's the average that
the people can get it.

Some people, direct,
they can get it

through their payment
for their wages, salary,

and some people are working
in the transportation,

and some people might be
involved in other business,

and so anybody can get the
benefit from this mine.

- The mining industry in China

has taken off since the 1970s,

but regulations to protect
the environment and residents

from mining pollution
have not kept pace.

China's
largest copper producer

is being blamed
for water pollution

that's affecting hundreds
of thousands of people.

Residents there say wastewater
from mining activities

is flowing into a major river,

contaminating farmland and
damaging the health of locals.

- Chinese have already done
a study of the water tables,

and based on that,
if they're gonna be

extracting water from
the water aquifers,

they're going to be affect
174 villages around Aynak.

There are people, human
beings living there.

They're going to
be using that water

for drinking purposes, for
agricultural purposes and all.

So we're going to be
affecting the life of people

in very negative way.

- Most of the residents
have been either forced

or they have left or they
are not allowed to return.

I mean, they are
losing everything.

They'll have to be compensated.

They'll have to be brought
to the round table,

discuss things with, consulted
properly, and then resettled.

He's saying if
people were happy with the-

He's saying
please don't translate it,

this part that he said.

- Finish, finish.

- Preserving Mes Aynak
is an important gesture

for Afghanistan.

It's an important gesture

for all the archeologists
in the world

who are concerned with
preserving human culture.

What's happening now in
Mes Aynak is a discovery

of lots of new information
relating to language.

They've found some
new manuscripts.

Philippe Marquis seems to think

that they will be finding
a lot more of those.

- So there is some of them
are in Indian languages

and Brahmi,

and we have one
inscription on the Buddha

which is in Bactrian,
which is very interesting.

So we are thinking
we are expecting to
find a lot of things.

There and going there.

All of the others
are going down here,

are going in this direction,

and the wall is here.

The destruction
of Mes Aynak itself

would be like Atlantis
going into the ocean

and disappearing from history.

Really important discoveries
of coins and terracotta images,

various types of
jewelry and et cetera

that was deposited as offerings.

These are the things
which are unparalleled.

This is Marek, over.

They're
just starting work.

- Yes, okay, roger that.

We are just hired by
Ministry of Mines.

We are trying to do our best.

At the moment, we've got only
four more months to finish,

which seems to be
almost impossible.

In this case, probably
no one is able

to stop mining Mes Aynak.

This many
walls got damaged.

- No, no, yeah,
there is no problem.

I have not destroyed any walls.

- We are archeologists.

We not work it with excavator.

We work it with shovel.

- Yeah, yeah, I know.

So now we are at the horizon,

but we can use the
shovel and the trowel.

- As far as I know, they
want to leave some stones,

so it will be left for workers.

- First off, they test it.

Then they'll use the excavator.

- Yeah, this is
what I have done.

Yeah, I take it down
this much at a time.

So first
they remove the topsoil

for 10 centimeters.

- And then stop, yeah.

And the driver has
been shown, see?

When loose, not a problem.

When he hits stone, rest.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I've
got some points from Guy

so that's why
we're working here.

- Maybe with Qadir, maybe
with Qadir, I don't know.

This is rescue archeology,

which means that we are
trying just to excavate

and to record as soon,
as fast as possible.

That's why sometimes it
looks that some bad guys

are using heavy
machinery for excavating.

I would be more
happy to excavate

according to all standards,

recording stratigraphy,
just digging using manpower,

but unfortunately
we have no time.

This is amazing.

I haven't seen it before.

Amazing, the best of
the best in this site.

This is temple so it's possible
that we've got three, four,

even five subsequent
phases of occupation here.

At the moment, we've
got some evidence

for late Kushan occupation
and early Sassanid

and probably Hephthalite
occupation as well,

which means it's
about 450 years.

Chinese are going to
create one big crater here

about 500 meters deep,

so all these sites,
all this heritage

will be completely destroyed.

Well, the attacks
started about 1:30 pm today.

It was at an intersection
near the US embassy.

The Taliban have claimed
responsibility for this attack.

It's the third major attack
in Kabul since late June.

- I just heard on CNN that

there was an attack on the
Bagram Air Force yesterday,

and shrapnel hit one of the
planes of one of the commanders,

and some people were
injured on the runway.

If you can't protect the
Bagram Air Force Base,

then basically we're
in God's hands.

The security situation
is getting worse and worse

every week, every month.

Every trip to Kabul or back,

it's a kind of Russian roulette.

- Good evening.

Tonight, a special
investigation.

The place is called Mes Aynak.

Each day
brings new precious finds.

This site will
eventually be destroyed.

- Okay, not bad.