National Geographic removed the three-time Emmy-winning documentary Retrograde from its streaming platforms in April. The removal was a response to media outlets, including the Washington Examiner, inquiring about whether National Geographic had culpability for the death of an Afghan contractor featured prominently in the film, which details the final months of U.S. military efforts in Afghanistan.
Numerous onlookers, including 1208 Foundation founder and Green Beret Thomas Kasza, do not feel that removing the documentary from streaming platforms goes far enough to protect other contractors who appeared in the film and remain in peril in Afghanistan today.
In May, the Washington Post detailed many of the ethical complexities surrounding Retrograde’s filming and dissemination. The documentary shows the unobscured faces of numerous Afghan personnel involved in the final effort to preserve Afghan government power in the lead-up to the U.S. withdrawal. The paper reported that Afghan participants made the choice to appear in the film at a time when the United States still naively believed that Afghan forces could withstand the power of a resurgent Taliban sweeping its way through the country.
However, by the time the documentary was released in December 2022, the Washington Post noted that filmmakers received warnings from numerous people who feared that Retrograde could comprise a “kill list” for the Taliban, considering that the group’s reprisal campaign against former military and government personnel had been widely reported since early 2022.
Warnings became reality just weeks after Retrograde was released when the Taliban came across a prominently featured 21-year-old member of the National Mine Reduction Group at a checkpoint. Days later, the Taliban arrested the young NMRG member at his home.
Kasza provided the Washington Examiner with an email from the young man’s uncle explaining what happened during the 15 to 16 days when the captured NMRG member was in Taliban custody.
“When the Taliban arrested me, they showed me Retrograde Movie and said you have worked with foreign forces and also worked in the movie,” the young man said.
During his confinement, the man was submerged under water and beaten, punched, and kicked so severely that he lost consciousness.
The Taliban later dumped his body on the street outside his home. The young man’s family contacted the Red Cross, who helped him cross the border to Peshawar, Pakistan, where he underwent four surgeries. The damage from his beatings was too great. The young man succumbed to his injuries within weeks.
Kasza learned of the NMRG member’s death through his work at the 1208 Foundation, which has been assisting NMRG personnel since the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan in August 2021. As a Green Beret, Kasza worked closely with the NMRG, a collection of highly trained Afghans who protected U.S. Special Forces personnel by locating improvised explosive devices in their areas of operation. In addition to facing exposure through the Retrograde documentary, NMRG members have also experienced difficulties utilizing the special immigrant visa program, as the Washington Examiner reported in April.
After hearing of the NMRG member’s tragic death, Kasza found eight additional NMRG personnel who were shown in Retrograde and remain in Afghanistan. He also knows of two additional people in Afghanistan who were part of the NMRG team filmed in the documentary, though they were not shown on screen themselves.
Kasza does not feel that the removal of the film from streaming platforms has effectively managed the risk to those who remain. Retrograde footage is still viewable online through sites such as TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and X. Kasza told the Washington Examiner that his “main request” to Disney and National Geographic personnel has been “to get the guys out of Afghanistan” and move them to a safe third country where the special immigrant visa they are eligible for can be processed.
The Washington Examiner asked National Geographic if it recognized that people pictured in the film were still at risk in Afghanistan due to leakage of the documentary onto social media platforms and inquired whether National Geographic planned to help remove endangered documentary participants to a third country.
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National Geographic did not respond to these questions but sent a statement noting that the company is “devastated” about the NMRG member’s death. “Given the new attention to this film, we have decided to remove it from our platforms out of an abundance of caution,” the statement reads.
Kasza acknowledges that National Geographic’s failure to protect members of the NMRG is just the tip of the iceberg. “We’re not yet talking about the Afghan commandos or the government officials who are shown in the movie,” he explained. “There’s a lot more than just our guys.”
Beth Bailey (@BWBailey85) is a freelance contributor to Fox News and the co-host of The Afghanistan Project, which takes a deep dive into nearly two decades of war and the tragedy wrought in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.