>> tonight, two stories in ths special edition frontline. first, tensions between the u.s. and pakistan are at a boiling point. >> and a worrisome challenge we face is the impunity with which certain extremist groups are allowed to operate from pakistani soil. >> one year ago, our team uncovered pakistani support of insurgents fighting american troops in afghanistan. >> and is the border hard to cross? >> (translated): pakistan is helping us. pakistan is our nation. these are our people. >> frontline investigates a secret war that threatens relations between the u.s. and its ally. >> frankly, we don't know on any

given day what side the pakistanis are on. >> and later tonight, when an opium crop is destroyed, farmers are forced to trade their daughters to pay their debts. >> (translated): the smugglers gave us money and we can't repay them. now they want to take me by force. >> afghan journalist najibullh quraishi uncovers a tragic casualty in afghanistan's war on opium. >> (translated): if they take me, i will kill myself. what else can i do? >> these two stories on this special edition frontline. >> frontline is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. and by the corporation for public broadcasting. major funding is provided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. and by reva and david logan. committed to investigative

journalism as the guardian of the public interest. additional funding is provided by the park foundation. dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. and by tfrontline journalism fund, supporting investigative reporting and enterprise journalism. additional funding for frontlineexpanded broadcast season is provided by the bill and melinda gates foundation. >> smith: for six months, frontline investigated a secret war against insurgents operating from inside pakistan. a year ago, i traveled across afghanistan and up to the border

of pakistan, together with frontline correspondent stephen grey. beyond this checkpoint, the campaign against the taliban and al qaeda is led by u.s. intelligence. here, the cia is funding, arming, and running secret afghan militia, who guard the border, gather intelligence, and launch kill raids against the militants. >> they're called "counter-terrorism pursuit teams," and they are groups of afghans very well paid, apparently pretty well trained, with guns, and they operate at the direction of the cia. these are direct-action, you know, go-to-the-ball kind of groups. they're not standing around and guarding checkpoints and, you

know, street corners. they're going after people. >> smith: here, in the province of khost, the cia unit is known as the khost protection force, or kpf. they are based in afghanistan, but their work is focused on pakistan. up at the border, we were stopped from filming them... but a former commander agreed to talk if his identity was protected. >> who were those guys?

>> smith: the wikileaks war logs, released in 2010, contain references to the cia's private army in khost. they fire mortars at taliban and al qaeda targets in pakistan. with the help of drones, "shadow coverage," they ambush and kill insurgent fighters crossing the border. >> smith: pakistan is supposed to be an ally in the war against the taliban and al qaeda, but u.s. soldiers fighting along the border complain that pakistan's army supports the militants. >> from my time on the border, we experienced on a regular

basis pakistani military complicity with the insurgency. it could be turning a blind eye as the insurgents launch rockets at our bases. it could be allowing passage, you know, kind of right under their noses. it could be even aiding and working with the insurgents to know what times to cross the border, telling them when our patrols or when the afghan army patrols typically come. it was complicity on their part, and that piece on an operational and a tactical standpoint has to change in order for us to see success in afghanistan. >> smith: pakistan's army denies the accusations of complicity. they point to the sacrifices they've made in fighting militants across the tribal areas. >> this kind of insinuation or allegation is unjust.

it... these are unfair allegations on pakistan. pakistan has done so much. we have lost over 3,000 soldiers and officers in this war. we have cleared so many areas. so many al qaeda leaders have been apprehended by our intelligence agencies. of course, there was a sharing of intelligence with the... the other side, as well. so, with these kind of performance and record, if still someone is not... not satisfied, then we are not to be blamed in this. >> smith: but frontline's investigation found that taliban leaders still move freely around the country. my colleague, stephen grey, made contact with a taliban commander operating from pakistan. he arranged to meet him just outside the capital, islamabad, not far from where osama bin laden was killed last may.

the commander told us how dependent the taliban is on sanctuary in pakistan to wage war across the border. >> grey: and is the border hard to cross?

>> frankly, we don't know on any given day what side the pakistanis are on. there is overwhelming evidence that, you know, even as the pakistani government takes, you know, between one billion and two billion dollars a year from the united states government in aid, they also maintain links with the taliban, and they support the taliban. and they certainly support and maintain very extensive links with the haqqani network, which is one of the most deadly insurgent groups operating in afghanistan. >> smith: the haqqani network is a major branch of the taliban, with close links to al qaeda. pakistan's military intelligence agency, the isi, has a history of supporting them. >> without their protection, without them tolerating the presence of these operatives-- to do planning, training and using pakistan soil-- they won't

be able to do these operations. so, isi knows they are doing it, and isi is happy they are doing it because through them, pakistan promotes her policy in afghanistan. and the policy is "taliban are ours, and they are to dominate afghanistan." >> smith: and we're going to help those who help them. >> yes. >> smith: by protecting them. >> yes. >> smith: by not arresting them. for example, one militant alleged to be close to the isi is a known leader in the haqqani network. (horn honking) according to u.s. intelligence, tajmir jawad is responsible for several major attacks on targets in kabul. >> more than a dozen times after we found out this particular

operation was carried out with blessings of tajmir, we told isi, "this guy is not hiding in mountains. he is either in peshawar, or he is in this specific building with this telephone number." they never arrested tajmir because tajmir is their man. >> grey: both american and afghan counterterrorism officials told us about one senior taliban haqqani leader. he's called tajmir jawad, and they say they have constantly told pakistan's military agencies about this man, but still he appears to be living freely. >> i'll have to check back with the intelligence agencies what exactly is their information on that. but other than this, all other... these things are up in the air. there are no specifics in that. one would like only to counter

if a fact is given, in detail, on the... on these issues. but in the past, a lot of these leaders have been arrested, apprehended, and have been acted against. so, if this is a specific case, i would like to check up with the agency and then return back on that. >> smith: it's true that pakistan has arrested some key taliban leaders. for years, the taliban have complained that the isi is playing a double game with them. but after spending three months interviewing numerous taliban commanders, matt waldman published a widely discussed paper on their isi support. >> from the interviews we conducted, i would say the talibs felt that they needed the support of the isi to conduct their campaign, and, of course, a campaign which has had to escalate to meet the escalation

from the coalition side. the strong feeling amongst the talibs is that the isi has very heavy influence over their movement. and they believe that that exists at a local level and at a senior level, in terms of the leadership. what they talk about is the ability of the isi to penalize or to punish those who do not act in accordance with its wishes. >> smith: the taliban commander we interviewed said that if pakistan chose to, it could "arrest us all in an hour." >> grey: how does the pakistan government put pressure on the taliban?

>> smith: at best, pakistani pressure on the taliban has been selective. the military has left the haqqani network almost untouched in the tribal area of north waziristan. u.s. military sources told frontline the pakistanis are unwilling to take them on. >> there are hundreds of groups operating in that area. you know, we have to mobilize resources, maybe cool down the other places, stabilize other places, and then sort of get the forces together and then go for it. so that is not an issue. >> smith: for more than six years, the united states has been pressing the pakistanis to launch an offensive in north waziristan. in the meantime, the cia has

taken matters into its own hands. remotely piloted drones have fired more than 280 hellfire missiles and bombs at targets in the tribal areas. officially, the cia does not speak about the drone war, but an agent who once ran the campaign agreed to talk to frontline about the program. >> the calculus is really a very simple one: it's trying to kill people before they kill you. it's as simple as that. now, it may have the knock-on and potentially intended effect, you hope, of discouraging further militancy. when people see others, you know, going up in a... in a puff of smoke, you know, one hopes that that will induce people to... to go home and sit out the fight. this is very much a "kill or be killed" situation, and that's

very much the dynamic that... that governs this. >> smith: the drone war was initially conceived to kill only the leadership of al qaeda and the taliban, but president obama has dramatically widened the campaign. under his administration, the cia has launched nearly six times more strikes than it did under president bush. >> there are many more fighters who are launching attacks across the line into afghanistan, so, in essence, you have a much larger and much broader target set there in the tribal areas, and most specifically in north waziristan. and i think that's the reason why we're seeing such a... a broadening of the aperture, if you will, for those sorts of attacks. >> you've had just an enormous upswing, particularly since president obama took office, on

the number of predator strikes. the curve just goes straight up, and they have a lot of faith in those predators. it is all driven by intelligence, so you have a massive network of intelligence gathering that's going on at the same time. >> smith: as the drone war escalated, the united states has had to develop a network of informers on both sides of the border. >> well, we had very close sharing of an... of information with the americans about targets, but drone operation is a very sensitive, secret u.s. operation. i don't know much about it. >> smith: but your counterparts in the cia were running these drones? >> right. >> smith: you gave them targets in the tribal areas? >> yes. >> smith: this is human intelligence on the ground? >> yes. >> smith: inside the tribal areas? >> wherever.

>> smith: the drone program is said to have killed around 2,000 militants over the last four years, but pakistanis protest the strikes are responsible for hundreds of civilian casualties. and others warn they risk creating a new and more dangerous generation of militants. >> it's not just a matter of numbers of militants who are operating in that area, it also affects the motivations of those militants. they now see themselves as part of a global jihad. they're not just focused on helping oppressed muslims in kashmir or... or trying to fight the... the nato and the americans in afghanistan. they see themselves as part of a global struggle, and therefore are a much broader threat than they were previously. so, in a sense, yes, we...

we have helped to bring about the situation that we most fear. >> smith: over the last six months, america's alliance with pakistan has continued to deteriorate. in november, after a nato raid killed two dozen pakistani soldiers at the border, the isi demanded the u.s. halt its drone program, and threatened to shoot down any more drones caught flying over the tribal areas. meanwhile, as the taliban continues to operate across the border, the u.s. plans to pull out all its troops from afghanistan by 2014. >> coming up next on this

special edition frontline, the tragic casualty of afghanistan's war on opium. >> (translated): they grabbed the knife and slit his throat. and they said, "if you don't give money, or your sister or daughter or son, then you'll face the same fate." >> "opium brides" begins right now. >> narrator: in a remote part of nangarhar province in eastern afghanistan, journalist najibullah quraishi has come to hear a story about opium-- about money, hostages, and a terrible trade in young children. it's a story that begins in this village with a poor farming family. the father had borrowed money

from drug traffickers to plant a crop of opium poppies, intending to pay it back at harvest time. >> (translated): the smugglers gave us money to grow opium. they said, "when the opium is harvested, we will take it from you." when we grew the opium, the government people came and destroyed it. >> narrator: their opium crop was destroyed in an eradication program ordered by the afghan government. >> (translated): when they destroyed the opium, the debt remained with us. the smugglers took my husband and imprisoned him. they took him by force. they said, "give us the money or we will take him." i said, "what are we going to do when you take him?" they said, "i don't care how you do it. give us our $20,000. we asked you to grow opium. why did you allow the government to destroy it? you should have stood against them and fought them."

>> narrator: now, the traffickers are offering a deal-- the money, or hand over this girl, their seven-year-old daughter. >> (translated): they have given me two months. if i don't find the money by then, i will have to give them my daughter to free my husband. it is the only way i can afford releasing him. >> narrator: it's not an isolated story. in a village near the pakistan border, quraishi meets another young girl facing the same fate. >> (translated): i wake up early and sweep. i wash the dishes, then bring tea and bread for my brothers. i prepare meals for them. my mom goes out and works for an organization. the smugglers have given us money and we can't repay them. now, they want to take me by

force. >> narrator: 11-year-old mina and her family are now in hiding from the drug traffickers. >> (translated): when they take me, they'll make me do the poppy and opium work. they will make me sweep and do the dishes. and one of these days, they will ask me to marry one of the smugglers. >> narrator: mina's mother says the only thing she can do is to keep one step ahead of the traffickers. >> (translated): my husband had taken money from them. he had taken it from them, saying that "when the harvest comes, i will pay you back." then, the government people came and destroyed it. so we fled because of the debt. now, we keep moving from one place to another.

>> narrator: near the village, quraishi meets a farmer who, months ago, was forced to give up his young daughter to drug traffickers. his name is sharif.

>> narrator: across afghanistan, nearly 200,000 farm families produce over 90% of the world's opium output. the opium trade funnels upwards of two billion dollars annually into afghanistan, about a tenth of the country's entire economy. but for most farmers at the bottom of the business, it provides an average income of about $2,500 a year, still more than most afghans earn.

nangarhar province has been a prime target of the afghan government's opium eradication program. quraishi got hold of this footage of afghan police and local people destroying poppy crops shot by a freelance cameraman. the footage includes an interview with a district official who says the farmers support eradication. >> narrator: but the footage also shows that some of the locals are upset. this elderly woman complains that eradication will make it impossible for her to pay back

the loan she took for her crop. >> narrator: and this elderly man complains the leaders take all the money and seeds for alternative crops the government offers to compensate farmers for the eradication. >> narrator: the opium eradication program may be an afghan government policy, but security for the operations is often provided by nato isaf troops, according to the officer in charge. >> the relationship is really, really important to get right. i'm sure you know. it's not in isaf's mandate to eradicate the poppy. it is done by the afghans for...

with the afghans. and it sounds as a rather confrontational, destructive thing, and i'm sure you've come across unhappy farmers. but the point is that it's done by them. it's an alternative livelihood program. it's more than just getting rid of poppy. it's actually giving them a realistic substitute. >> interviewer: aren't we getting involved in semantics? >> narrator: producer jamie doran questioned the role of nato troops in the eradication program. >> interviewer: you give them the protection. they couldn't do it without you. >> that is true. >> interviewer: the guns and the armored cars, as well. >> we don't eradicate poppy, and... >> interviewer: i'm sorry, it really is semantics here. >> well, you may call it that, but i would disagree. we do not eradicate poppy. what we do is provide the secure environment, the stability to enable them to have an alternative livelihood. >> narrator: that "alternative livelihood" is an ambitious infrastructure program for growing substitute crops like wheat or maize. but it's slow in coming and, meanwhile, these farmers say they've been unable to earn what

they once got from opium. >> narrator: the farmers say they would all grow opium again if they could. >> narrator: not surprisingly, some farming communities are beginning to fight back.

this footage, also taken by the freelance cameraman, documents farmers in nangarhar demonstrating against the police to get the right to grow their opium crops again. the police, unable to quell the demonstrations, finally begin firing on the farmers. (gunshots) while some farmers battle the police, there are others growing opium poppies far from the reach of the government. to get to them, you have to travel towards the pakistan border into taliban territory. drug smuggling is a primary source of income for the taliban, estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars a year from producing opium themselves, or forcing traffickers to pay

bribes for safe passage through their territory. deep inside taliban-controlled countryside, quraishi is able to meet with some opium farmers who all say they have no intention of switching to other crops. >> narrator: he calculates his two acre opium crop will earn him more than 20 times what wheat would bring. >> narrator: these farmers say that, with the protection of the taliban, their crops are safe, that the afghan police rarely come near this district. but they also say they know what

happens to families whose fields are destroyed by the government. >> narrator: the practice of trading children for debts is an old one. >> interviewer: there's another field on the left. >> narrator: quraishi had come across it when he hiked into these remote mountains in north-central afghanistan to film opium farmers. walking for days, in valley after valley, he sees fields and fields of poppies. these plants will need another two months to mature before harvesting. then, the drug traffickers will arrive to buy the raw opium. visitors with cameras are not

common in these parts. >> narrator: these small villages are a world apart, with their own traditional ways of settling disputes. >> narrator: debts are settled

in the same way, with girls traded for unpaid loans, sold off to become wives at an early age. it's a tradition exploited by the drug traffickers in places like nangarhar province, with a devastating impact on families. >> (translated): we have been devastated. anything that we had, my little daughter, we lost them all to the smugglers. we took the money and bought some land. first, we worked as farm laborers, but then we worked on our own land. we bought a house. our lives improved a little after taking the money. then, there was chaos. those people came and crushed all the poppy crops. all our money and everything we had were gone, and we became desperate. >> narrator: jamila says the traffickers took her husband hostage, and also took her eldest daughter in payment for their debt.

>> (translated): they took my 14-year-old daughter away to iran. now, they say they will take my other daughter who is sitting here by my side. >> narrator: 12-year-old farishta says she is terrified the traffickers will soon come for her, too. >> (translated): if they take me, i will kill myself. what else can i do? death is better than sorrow and sadness. if we give them money, they will let me go. we don't have any money for living. how can we pay their money? >> narrator: when quraishi met 11-year-old zarmina, she had just escaped from the drug traffickers who had taken her, a rare event. she told quraishi she was trying to forget the hardships of her captivity. >> (translated): they wouldn't allow me to change my clothes. they wouldn't give me soap to wash them. the clothes became worn out on

my body. they did every possible cruelty to me. i really fear that those smugglers will take me again. >> narrator: it's not clear what happened to her. zarmina says some strangers helped her to escape. >> (translated): they had been beating me for no reason. then, some nomads came and i went with them. by asking and asking, people agreed to help me. and that way, i made it to my parents. now, i fear that they will kill me and kill my parents. >> narrator: it's taboo to talk about sexual abuse in a country where females are often presumed at fault, even when raped. safia sidiqqi, a former member of parliament, was reluctant to talk about the sexual use of the girls by the traffickers.

>> narrator: but the local director of counter-narcotics claimed to know nothing about the practice of so-called "opium brides." >> narrator: he suggests

quraishi speak to his superiors, but intimates there will probably be no official acknowledgment of the practice. >> narrator: off camera, abadullah admitted to quraishi that, of course, he knew about it, but that it's not something government officials are supposed to talk about. quraishi had another lead to follow, a story he first heard from several high afghan officials about a man they knew who had been kidnapped by drug traffickers. he is seen in this video, which was shot by the traffickers and sent to his family to convince them to pay their debts.

>> narrator: he was a school teacher who said he had no idea that his father and brother had taken $40,000 from drug traffickers to expand their farm. when afghan police destroyed the farm's opium crop, his father fled into hiding and his brother was captured by traffickers. when the school teacher showed up on the farm, he too was suddenly surrounded by armed men. >> (translated): i was imprisoned by them for over six months. during those six months, i faced many ordeals. the first one was when they took me with them in a car. >> narrator: he says, after being imprisoned for two months in afghanistan, he was turned over to a second group of smugglers and driven into pakistan, where, he says, the traffickers forced him to watch the execution of an old man. >> (translated): they made

an old man sit in the middle of the road. they put his election card, i think, in his mouth and then shot the poor guy in public in the bazaar, and then we left. >> narrator: he says he was then forced to watch a second execution; this time, of several afghan border policemen. >> (translated): he shot them in the head, one by one, all five or six on the spot, and killed those poor people. they told me, "these people stop us when we transport drugs, and anyone who tries to stop us will face the same consequences. if you don't accept our conditions, either give us back the money, or a sister or daughter, we will do the same to you. >> narrator: finally, the school teacher who we'll call "razim", says the traffickers forced him to watch the beheading of a man they said had not paid his debts.

>> (translated): they threw the poor guy over there, grabbed a knife and slit his throat. i was looking at him. and they said, "if you don't give money, or your sister or daughter or son, then you will face the same fate." >> narrator: razim says he finally decided that if he were killed, his family would still be in danger, so he agreed to a deal. >> (translated): finally, i was forced to tell them i would give them one daughter who is five or six years old, and one son who is 11 or 12 years old. i was forced to give them as a guarantee for my own life so that they would release me. >> narrator: razim says he made the painful decision so he could come back and raise money to rescue his children, begging loans from his family, and selling off the little land he owned. >> these people are demanding $40,000 from me-- $20,000 for my son and daughter's release, and $20,000

for my brother. i have collected about $14,000 or $15,000, about that much. >> (translated): yes, because my children are just little kids. >> narrator: while razim kept trying to raise the money, quraishi headed back to the villages deep in nangarhar province. two months had passed since he last saw farishta. the family still had no news of her sister. >> (translated): no. i don't know where she is. she was really good with me. we always played together. when dad was busy in the opium fields, we would take food to him. she played with me on the way. we played in the stream

together. she really loved me and i loved her. we studied in the madrassa and went to school. the drug smugglers came after us at school, saying "we will meet you." when we came home, they took my sister by force. i still remember that my sister was crying as they were pulling her. she was shouting. >> narrator: there are few places for girls like farishta to turn to. in a country where the government rarely acknowledges the abuse of girls, there are only a handful of private shelters like this one quraishi is taken to. he meets a teenager who had been rescued just as her father was about to hand her over to a 70-year-old man as an opium bride. >> (translated): amina, and i am 14 years old. my father wanted to sell me to drug smugglers, but i didn't

want to get married. >> narrator: she says her father was so angry when she tried to resist that he beat her. >> (translated): my father would beat me and pull my hair and my mom's hair. he would kick me and my mother. he would threaten to throw us out of the house. my father had taken cash from that person and promised that i would marry him. >> narrator: the shelter promised to care for her for as long as is necessary, until she is able to safely move away to another part of the country.

>> narrator: for sharif, the farmer who turned over his young daughter, the guilt of giving her up has become overwhelming. >> narrator: his addiction to heroin is getting out of control.

>> narrator: then, quraishi hears some terrible news: that farishta has disappeared. >> she told us she would commit suicide if she were taken away. today, after two weeks, i came here and there is no sign of her.

her neighbors told us that a group of gunmen with kalashnikov gun came here, took her away, and the second day or the following day, her family disappeared. no one knows where they are. >> narrator: quraishi goes looking for the other girls. it seems two of them have escaped to other parts of the country. but there is news of the family he first met. their mother has been forced to hand over her seven-year-old daughter to the drug traffickers.

back in jalalabad, razim has finally managed to raise $20,000 from relatives and friends to buy back his children. >> (translated): they will call me today or anytime soon. then, i will go to the location they have shown me. i will give them the money and they will give me my children. >> narrator: razim is expecting a call at any moment. it comes as quraishi is interviewing him. (phone vibrating) >> hello?

>> (translated): they just want money; they don't want anything else. the smugglers are totally beyond

the bounds of humanity. they have no mercy. i will give them the money and get my children back alive and healthy so we're together again. >> narrator: for two hours, quraishi waits. but when razim returns, there is only one child with him in the car, his six-year-old daughter.

>> narrator: for seven weeks, razim heard nothing more about his son. then, suddenly, the boy was returned. he was terribly ill. he died two days later.

>> next timfrontline... >> mumbai has been hit, and hit hard. >> david coleman headley was a specialist in constructing a blueprint of the killing zone. >> a dream come true from the perspective of a terrorist group. >> a sociopath, evil... >> a u.s. double agent... >> did they ask him about his work for the u.s. government? >> we were told by the u.s. that is not to be asked. >> "a perfect terrorist," a frontline/propublica investigation. >> frontline continues online. learn more about the opium brides problem and the politics of poppy eradication. watch frontline's other undercover reports inside afghanistan, and hear from a prominent former u.s. official about why he believes drone

strikes in pakistan may be counterproductive. >> in a sense, we have helped to bring about the situation that we most fear. >> follofrontlion facebook and twitter, or join the discussion at pbs.org/frontline. >> frontline is made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. and by the corporation for public broadcasting. major funding is provided by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. and by reva and david logan. committed to investigative journalism as the guardian of the public interest. additional funding is provided by the park foundation. dedicated to heightening public awareness of critical issues. and by tfrontline journalism fund, supporting investigative reporting and enterprise journalism. additional funding for frontlineexpanded broadcast season is provided by the bill

and melinda gates foundation. captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org for more on this and other frontline programs, visit our website at pbs.org/frontline. frontline"opium brides" is available on dvd. to order, visit shoppbs.org or call 1-800-play-pbs. frontline is also available for download on itunes.

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