 In trial session one, we heard evidence from the prosecution regarding the legislative context of this court case. The prosecution argued that, although they are prosecuting a state and not an individual, the act of invading Afghanistan would still constitute a crime of aggression, citing the United Nations Charter. We heard video testimony from expert witness Professor Richard Falk, and we heard the testimony of expert witness Dr. Thomas McManus live. If your team is ready, Ms. Said, we can begin trial session two. We are ready. The prosecution will present a brief colonial history of Afghanistan. The modern state of Afghanistan has had a tumultuous past since it was founded by Ahmad Shah Abdali in 1747. An infected shrapnel wound or a cancerous ulcer began eating away at Ahmad Shah, starting with his nose. And in 1772, the leaves and fruit of his date palm fell onto the ground and he returned whence he had come, as the Afghan writer Mirza Ratah put it. The great general died before he could stabilize the borders of his state. Ahmad Shah Abdali's son, Timur Shah, fought to keep the borders of his land. By the time one of Timur Shah's 24 sons, Shah Zaman, began raiding Hindustan to fund his armies, a new force had spread into India, the British East India Company. As early as 1798, the British East India Company's most aggressive Governor-General, Lord Wellesley, sent arms and sponsored training to the Persian Empire, encouraging the Persians to attack Afghanistan in order to destabilize Shah Zaman's power. In the same year of 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte landed his troops at Alexandria and tried to seize India from the British. He wrote, through Egypt we shall invade India. We shall re-establish the old route through Suez. When Napoleon was defeated by Admiral Nelson in the Battle of the Nile, he changed course and now planned to attack India through Persia and Afghanistan. A treaty with the Persian ambassador was swiftly signed. Pushed back by the East India Company and forced to leave the rich Punjab under the authority of Ranjit Singh, Shah Zaman was rejected by the Karbalis in 1800, imprisoned and blinded. As a Rattar writes, the point quickly spilled the wine of his sight from his cup and his eyes. Shah Zaman's younger brother, Shah Shujar, wandered in exile until 1803. He took advantage of a sectarian riot to take power and free his hapless and sightless brother. Following Napoleon defeating the Russians at the Battle of Friedland, June 14, 1807, Napoleon met Russian Emperor Alexander II to negotiate a peace treaty. In the peace treaty, Napoleon included several secret clauses that were not publicly disclosed at the time but which were laying the foundations for a joint Franco-Russian attack on the source of British Empire's wealth, India. Napoleon's dream was to emulate Alexander the Great and march 50,000 French troops of the Grand Armée across Persia to invade India while Russia would head south through Afghanistan. The British secret service, however, had hidden one of their spies, a disillusioned Russian aristocrat beneath the barge that Napoleon and Alexander II met on, his ankles dangling in the river. This informer sent the outlines of the plan to London and the British decided to counter attack. The Governor-General of India at that time, Lord Minto, sent four separate embassies with lavish presence in order to warm and win over the powers that stood in Napoleon's way, Tehran, Lahore, to the emirs of Sindh, and the fourth to Shah Shujar and the Afghans. The first embassy to Afghanistan by a western power left the East India Company's Delhi residents on the 13th of October 1808 with the ambassador, Mount Stuart Elphinstone, accompanied by 200 cavalry, 4,000 infantry, a dozen elephants, and 600 camels. Elphinstone had reserved one elephant entirely for his books, including volumes of the Persian poets, Homer, Horace, Herodotus, Theocritus, Sappho, Plato, Berwulf, Machiavelli, Voltaire, Horace, Walpole, Dryden, Bacon, Boswell, and Thomas Jefferson. Elphinstone wrote, as the court of Kabul was known to be haughty and supposed to entertain a mean opinion of European nations, it was determined that the mission should be in a style of great magnificence. To quote historian William Dharampool, it was clear that the British were not interested in cultivating Shah Shujar's friendship for its own sake, but were concerned only to outflank their imperial rivals. The Afghans were perceived as mere pawns on the chessboard of Western diplomacy, to be engaged or sacrificed at will. In the century that followed, successive Governor-Generals of India have backed different Afghan claimants to the throne with money, weapons and training, despite the claimants' widespread unpopularity among the Afghan people, and sometimes their outright rejection. In attempts to impose a British-friendly government on the strong-minded Afghans, three Anglo-Afghan wars were fought. The first Anglo-Afghan war, 1839 to 1842. After a quick victory in occupation, the British army's creation of a sex trade in Kabul triggered a rebellion. Ill-prepared and lacking knowledge of the Afghans, the British army was forced to retreat at the end of 1842. The second Anglo-Afghan war, 1878 to 1880. After a quick victory and bloody and lengthy peace treaty negotiations, the British chose Abdul Rahman Khan as Amir of Afghanistan. Abdul Rahman allowed the British to control Afghanistan's foreign policy in exchange for protection and the subsidy. The Afghan tribes maintained internal rule and local customs and provided a continuing buffer between the British Raj and the Russian Empire, abandoning the policy of maintaining a British resident in Kabul, but having achieved all their geopolitical objectives, the British withdrew from Afghanistan. Notable is the battle of Maywand in Helmand, 1880, where the British were disastrously defeated and where the British army would return in 2001. We pause this brief history in the year of 1892, during the rule of Abdul Rahman to hear the first witness testimony in this case, that of Manir Hashemi. We want to make it clear that Ms. Hashemi's testimony relates to events that took place in the year 1892. A million people were forced to leave their homelands. Hundreds of thousands had to flee to neighbouring countries to escape the persecution. And tens of thousands of Hazara men, women and children were sold. Her testimony has been pre-recorded. Would you like to swear or affirm? Affirm. You may read the affirmation now. I do solemnly, sensibly and truly declare and affirm that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. What would you like to share with the court today? I would like to share a story that my grandfather used to tell me. Where or affirm? Affirm. You may read the affirmation now. I do solemnly, sensibly and truly declare and affirm that the evidence I shall give shall be the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. What would you like to share with the court today? I would like to share a story that my grandfather used to tell me. We are Hazara, an ethnic minority reside in Hazara Jad, a mountainous region in central Afghanistan. We speak Hazaragi, a Farsi dialect, and the majority of Hazaras are Muslim Shia. I would like to tell this, the court, about an incident in our history in which we were persecuted with British complicity. The British had appointed Abdurrahman as Emir of Kabul in 1880, where he was patronized financially, politically and militarily. With the munition, artillery and guns from the British, Abdurrahman destroyed and burned 300 Hazara forts down. During his reign, 400,000 Hazara families, about 2 million people were forced to leave their homelands. Hundreds of thousands had to flee to neighboring countries to escape the persecution, and tens of thousands of Hazara men, women and children were sold as slaves. Abdurrahman massacred 62% of Hazara people. When I was too young to understand my grandfather's stories from his fatherland, a land he had never set his footstuck on since his father had been forced to leave it years before my grandfather was even born. And yet, whenever grandfather told his father stories, it felt as if he was there too. I felt like I was there too, a child among all the convulsions of the world, a child at the center of the mad lord's game. What I refer to as mad lord's game was a political and diplomatic confrontation between the Russian, who called it the tournament of shadows, and the British, who called it the great game. The situation abruptly changed, my grandfather used to say. It was as if a black cloud appeared in the sky to rain, lead and fire, in a state of snow and rain. The leaders of the Hrabud gathered at Nazarbayek's house. The Hrabud is a district located in Orozgan, one of the central provinces of Afghanistan. Before Abdurrahman gained the power, Orozgan was homeland to Hazara people. And Nazarbayek was one of the Hazara leaders in the Hrabud in the 1900s. He was father to Tajwar, who was known by the people as Malakey-e-Dihrabud, the queen of the Hrabud. It is Tajwar's story that I'm going to share today. Abdurrahman's soldier, armed and paid by the British, were threatening my people. Mehrab, my great grandfather, a lively, curious, peasant boy, was sitting in that meeting too. From time to time, he would cast a brief look at Tajwar. Mehrab had never seen Tajwar so saddened, and Tajwar had never seen her father Nazarbayek so worried. Those Hazaras, who could not imagine that the Hrabud would fall, said, only someone who can move the Hrabud's mountain is capable of defeating us. These mountains have been here from the beginning since the Hrabud was born from the womb of the earth, and so we will also be here forever. Nazarbayek said, this war is not our war. It's the war of powers, the war of imperialists. To cut the czar's hand, the British want a united Afghanistan, a united but dependent Afghanistan. As it says, one Osipar is always afraid of another Osipar. Our independence considered a threat to the British, so they wanted gone, they wanted destroyed. Our freedom, the freedom of our people, our land has been contemplated as a threat, and that too, the British wants gone. They have brought their war here in our land, at our door, and we have no choice but to fight. My people fought, and they died, and the Hrabud fell. My great-grandfather used to tell my grandfather, and my grandfather told me that almost everyone in their fort were massacred. Only a few women, children, and old people were hiding inside it, which soon was destroyed by the artillery guns that Amir received from the British. And yet, there were some houses still standing in the middle of the ruins. The soldiers who had orders to level everything to the ground forced the survivors, the captives, to destroy their own houses. Among them was Tajwar, and also my great-grandfather Mehrab. A voice was singing, singing, singing. It was an old man. His entire family had been massacred, but he kept on singing. The soldiers hit him in the face with a gun. He passed for a while, but soon he started again. So they said, sing till your death arrive. It was getting dark. A child asked, we have been defeated. Why did they force us to destroy our homes with our own hands? This question silenced the old man for a moment. It was as if something was happening inside him. After a while, he whispered something to Tajwar. Then he continued, singing, singing, singing. In the middle of the night, when the soldiers were slowly falling asleep, Tajwar prepared the first group to flee. Mehrab was among them. One of the very few male survivors and only 13 years old. He was responsible for taking the few surviving children and women to safety. That he did. After some hour, the rest arrived in a small group, but there was no sign of Tajwar herself. Mehrab knew that the old man would not leave. He had to sing. He had to hit the axes against the walls and stones to make noises to cover the survivor's flight. But Mehrab could not stop thinking about her. He kept his eye on the road for hours, and finally he decided to go find Tajwar, his queen. When Mehrab reached a fort, the Amir soldier had already left. Among the ruins and dead bodies, he found the old man. His tongue was cut off from his mouth. His head, arms, and legs, and his whole body was torn to pieces. He was the last Dehrawoodi singing Shahnameh among the ruins of Dehrawood. With the hope to find Tajwar and tears in his eyes, Mehrab started walking. After days of walking with no water and food, he reached one of the Amir's camp. He hid behind a stone, and among the hundreds of captives chained to one another, he tried to find Tajwar. A little further away from the prisoners, right in the middle of the camp, he saw soldiers building a big fire. When the fire was, when the wood was ready, they dragged a woman with her hands tied and threw her in the middle of it. Then Mehrab heard one of the soldiers. This infidel Hazara woman killed our commander and tried to escape. But she was captured by the border guards and handed over to us. According to the commitments made between the Iron Amir and the British Indian government, every infidel Hazara who intends to flee must be arrested and extradited to us. The woman shouted, I am free. My spirit is free. Hazara is free and will be free. Mehrab recognized that was, it was hers. It was Tajwar in the middle of the firewood. Soldiers laughed and said, light the fire, light the fire. Mehrab wanted to get up, run towards Tajwar and save her from all the terror and darkness, but he could not move. He wanted to scream, but it was his hands and his tongue had been cut off too. He could not move and yet he heard Tajwar the whole time. He heard her shouting, we are free and we will be free. Hazara is free and will be free. You have usurped our lands. You have captured our body, but you the invaders know this. Our souls remain free. The wind was blowing. The fire blazing higher and higher, whipping harder and harder on Tajwar's body. Laughing, the soldiers circled the fire. They clapped their hands. They stomped the ground and with their long flowing hair, they began to dance at home. That day, it was not only Tajwar who was burned in that fire. Mehrab was burned too. They both had looked at their lands for the last time. A land drowned in the blood of its people. Their memories were embodied before their eyes. The Umbura night, the head of the wild horses in the middles and the wheat fields. And they heard the voice of Nazarbayek who had said, this war is not our war. This is the war of powers, war of money and weapons. We have no money and we have no amir with foreign support, foreign canons and foreign guns. Without British support, such atrocities, a genocide of this scale would not have happened. The legacy of British colonial and imperialistic policies, only for Hazara people, has been decades of persecution, mass and forced migration, exile and structural discrimination in Afghanistan, expansion and conquest by any means at any cost. And the cost have always been paid by the innocent people who had no hands in power. The seeds of hatred and dissensions that were sown by Abdurrahman meant that my grandfather has never seen the land of Mehrab, the land of his father, as my mother has never seen it. And now after 141 years following the same policies of Abdurrahman, the Hazara men, women, children, old and young are being targeted, kidnapped, tortured and killed in all corners of Afghanistan by Taliban. And I'm afraid that I will not be able to set foot in the land of Mehrab, in the land of Tajwar, in the land that we were deprived of a century ago. My grandfather knew that the only way to preserve the lived and historical experience of his father, of his people was to retell his father's story over and over again. In the continuation of the same tradition, in this quote, I told you the story of Tajwar and the tears of Mehrab that were falling down from my grandfather's eyes. But I do not want your pity. I just wish that these narratives help us not to ignore our contribution to such human sufferings. And finally, I just have two questions to the privileged British people. How can you be proud and enjoy the luxuries of your first world country? Without questioning the fact that it comes at the cost of the lives of millions of people from all around the world. A year later in 1893, Mortimer Durand was dispatched to Kabul by British India to sign an agreement with Abdul Rahman for fixing the limits of their respective spheres of influence, as well as improving diplomatic relations and trade. On November 12, 1893, the Durand-Line Agreement was reached. In the Third Anglo-Afghan War of 1919, also known as the War of Independence, Britain introduced bombs to Afghanistan for the first time, dropping up to 332 in a single day in an attempt to police the Afghans from the sky. Despite the many losses incurred, destroyed crops, casualties, and mass rape, the Third Anglo-Afghan War ends with Britain forced to recognize Afghanistan as an independent nation. These imperial invasions would be followed by a Russian invasion in 1979 to 1989. After the Russians were also forced to retreat, Afghanistan saw a period of turmoil and civil war between 1989 and 2001. The prosecution would like to call Gulwali Pasilai to the stand, who will provide us with valuable information on life in Afghanistan and on to the Taliban. The prosecution granted. It must be mentioned that Gulwali's testimony is taken from his real childhood memories that have been dramatized. Gulwali will be played by an actor with his consent. I do solemnly, sincerely, and truly declare and swear that the evidence I shall give as Gulwali shall be truthful to Gulwali's childhood memories as they are written and shall be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Thank you. Please be seated. Gulwali. You're now going to be asked some questions by the prosecution, but it's important that you direct your answers towards the panel so they can hear you. Is that okay? Continue. Would you give your full name to the court, please? Gulwali Pasilai. And will you tell the court where you are from? I'm Nangarhar. And where is that exactly? And how old are you, Gulwali? Oh, excuse me, sorry. Let it be noted that we are taking this testimony from Gulwali in the year 2008. I am 14 years old. And where did you grow up, Gulwali? I grew up in the mountains. It was what I was, my grandfather and my grandmother, and their sheep pie in the mountains. They were farmers and jeffers. Would you say that your life was good before the invasion? Yes, we brought all sorts of things in the mountains and wild food. Grandfather would always take me to the bazaar where he'd trade his stuff for rice or other stuff. One time I was playing with a slingshot and I shot at him by mistake. I almost took his eye out. There was blood everywhere from his foreheads down on his cheek. I bet it hurts him a lot, but he just looked at me and said, good shot, Gulwali. How about the women in your family? What was their life like? And my mother was the only woman in the entire family who could drink. But it was a great shame to lie to your women outside in case they were seen by other men. So my mother and aunt really left the house. Inside the house they wore long shawls to cover their head. It was very bad for anyone outside of the media to see their heads uncovered. I was extremely pious when I was younger, and this was a rule I took for myself to enforce. The wrath of Allah would be upon you. Go and cover your head. I used to say it to my aunties. The young wives worked hard all day baking bread, cooking over the fire. I often sat with them in the kitchen, bossing them around and forcing them to bring me tea. When my uncles were away, I would often refuse to let them walk, to kept firewood, visit people, or attend family weddings. I saw this as protecting family honour. I would make a big show of insisting on collecting good for them so they didn't have to. Why do you need to go outside? You are the queens of this house. This was something I'd had my uncle say many times. We had a saying in Bashar al-Qur, Yavar, which was the two places for a woman, home or grave. Did your father hold the same beliefs? My father was much more relaxed than his brothers. I was really bratty when I was younger, and I liked to show my powers to my aunts. Did the women's situation worsen with the arrival of the Taliban? Even before the arrival of the Taliban, my family were concerned. We lived by Pashtun Wali. And can you tell the court what you mean by Pashtun Wali? They are strict rules. Every Pashtun must respect, like how to treat a guest. Courage is a big one, and loyalty, and honouring your family and your women. It isn't written, it's just a way of life. So would you say that your family agreed with the Taliban government? My small uncle-a-law was in the following one. He used to come to visit us, and he brought Taliban soldiers with him. I thought he was cool. I knew he was an important man, but I didn't really understand what he did. And my father told me that before the Taliban came to power, women and girls were raised if they went outside. Houses were robbed, and children kidnapped and held for ransom. He said the country was in ruins, but the Taliban returned order. Their ideas were similar to Pashtun Wali. So to me, my father and uncles, it made perfect sense. And what did the women in your family think about the Taliban? Some of my friends at school said their parents were afraid of the Taliban and thought they were bad people. They said they were taking our country in the wrong direction. He also said that they abused women. This made me angry. My uncle-a-law was a Taliban, so how could they be bad? Did you ever have any contact with the Taliban apart from your uncle? Yes. Once there was a meeting of elders and Taliban fighters in our home, and my mother was making me send pots of tea to them. How old were you? I was seven years old. So this was in 2001? Yes. Was it after 9-11? Yes. And did you hear any of the conversations? Yes. They were saying that they didn't have anything to do with it, so why should they bow down to the imperialists? And by they, who do they refer to? The Taliban. And by imperialists they meant? The Americans. My uncle-a-law told me that bin Laden was a freedom fighter from Saudi Arabia who attacked America. It was all over the radio. Lots of people died in the attacks. People jumped from windows to escape. Even though I thought Americans were infidels, I felt sad. What made you sad? Hearing about people jumping from windows and thinking about their families. And did the Taliban leaders discuss handing over bin Laden to the Americans? They were saying that the US was angry with Afghanistan blaming us for it. Why? Because the Taliban were refusing to bow to the Americans in hand of bin Laden. They were saying he was in Toroborah, which was a couple hours' drive away from where we lived. The US threatened to attack if they didn't hand him over. But the Taliban refused because under the rules he was our guest. And the guest is under the protection of the host. So they decided to withhold bin Laden even with the threat of a military attack? No one really believes the threats because everyone knew the Taliban had nothing to do with the attack. And we assumed the Americans knew that too. But we were wrong. And were you there during the invasion? Yes. I remember the fighter jets. For a day or so they circled the skies, not doing anything. Taliban troops were everywhere and lots of local people were volunteering to fight with them. My father was trying to get medical supplies, he ordered my mother to take us children to a bunker. Then they started bombing. We could hear the sound, but it was far away. After a few days, the bombings were falling directly on us. I was really scared. Really scared. I thought I was going to die. The sounds were very loud. Explosions. The whole ground was shaking. After each bombardment we would come outside for air and look up at the trails of smoke in the sky. Pretty much every type of bomb except nuclear bombs rained down on my country. Did your family members take part in the fighting? Uncle Lola was the regional commander for the Taliban so he was leading the fight. My dad stayed in the hospital, my grandmother stayed in the house to stop it from being looted. Uncle Lola was one of the last commanders of the Taliban to hold a position. We were told that his courage allowed bus loads of fighters to escape Kabul. To me, he was a hero. After that final battle he fled the country and we didn't know where he went. Had you seen western troops on the ground? When the occupation started, they were everywhere, convoys of armored cars. The first time I saw western troops on the ground I was so scared of their big guns. They looked like something from another planet. My brothers and I would throw stones at them but from a safe distance. After a while, seeing them became normal. Then the aid workers came. They started to rebuild clinics and schools. My dad said this was a good thing but he was still very upset that it was foreigners who were building new things and not our government. What was the situation for women and girls at that time? Girls started to go to school. Under the Taliban they weren't allowed. This was not normal for me. It was so strange to see them in their uniforms. They walked in groups for safety because boys used to curse and throw stones at them. My sisters did go to school for a while but not for long. My father said it was too unsafe. I was happy about this. Not because I didn't want them to have an education but because I didn't want any of my friends to say they saw my sisters outside. I genuinely thought this was... I genuinely thought that staying away from school was the best thing. Were you still pious? Probably more than ever. Especially because we were under occupation. And how was the situation under occupation? The whole country was in a state of uncertainty. There were fights between different groups. Nobody agreed to each other. What do you mean by that? Some people supported the Taliban whereas others were siding with the Westerners. Did things improve after the Taliban were defeated? No. It was a very confusing time. My grandfather was very upset. The NATO forces were also really bad. Did you witness any incidents involving NATO troops? Yes. I still have nightmares about it. Are you able to talk about it? Yes. We were driving to Jalalabad, the nearest city to us. The road was blocked by Western armored cars. The road was blocked on both sides. No one could pass. Suddenly a car full of people and children drove towards them. I don't know why. Maybe someone was sick but they drove on. The soldiers shot at them. The car burst into flames. Everyone inside died. My father was holding me really tight, shielding my eyes. He was saying, why, why, why, why? There were so many incidents like this one. I lost track. We used to hear about bombings or weddings, killing innocent farmers, soldiers shooting anyone they fought, maybe Taliban. People disappeared into the hands of the special forces and were not seen again for years. Women waited for husbands who never returned. Roadblocks all the time. One woman gave birth by the side of the road because the soldiers refused to let her and her husband pass. I hated these people that came to conquer us. They were worse than the Russians. Did you ever find out what happened to your uncle Lala? He had been hired in Pakistan. The US forces had a large base near our house and they knew about my uncle, so they believed he had gone back to join the Taliban. So they came to our home to interview my father and uncles all the time. Even though my father didn't know where my uncle was. What were these visits like? The soldiers had no understanding of our culture, instead directly at the women instead of turning their faces away. My younger siblings were so scared. They used to cry when they saw them. Can you tell us, in the court, about the circumstances of your father's death? I wasn't there when it happened, but I was told the story. My real mother didn't want us to know the full story and I didn't ask. I still don't want to know because it won't bring my family back. If you feel like you can tell us the details of what you do know? That night, NATO troops came to our house. They had been in attack on their base and some of their soldiers had been killed. And they thought the weapons used in the attack came from our house. They were angry, and this time they didn't ask questions. They came in with dogs, kicking in the doors. They searched everything, even the women, throwing furniture, personal items and even the hood on onto the floor. Neighbours and relatives came to help and drive them out. All of them aren't. By the time the shooting stopped, five of my relatives had been killed, including my father and my grandfather. Were there any weapons stored at your house? I honestly don't know. I was just a child and these things were never talked about in front of me. But your family were Taliban sympathisers? Yes. My father would not have put us at risk. He would never really happen when Taliban members came to our house. Why didn't he refuse the visits? That would have been even worse. We had to keep both sides happy, but it was really impossible. How did this loss make you feel? I was in pain, angry. I lost my father and grandfather and I wanted revenge. Did you do anything to get revenge? I wanted to. The Taliban began to visit more and more. They wanted my brother and me to become fighters or even suicide bombers, martyrs to avenge our father's death. I was so angry that I wanted to do it. My brothers were the same. But my mother knew that we didn't understand the situation and we were easily manipulated. Did your mother witness your father's death? Yes, she was there. She didn't want revenge? Revenge is a big part of Pashtun Wali. If you don't avenge yourself against your enemies, you have failed as a man. And many women would want their sons to avenge their fathers. But my mother is very religious and Islam forbids taking her life. She believed that killing anyone was wrong, even if the reasons might seem justified. My mother was also scared for me and my brother because the NATO forces had turned their attention to us, trying to get us to become informants. What information did they want from you? About my uncle's contacts where Taliban weapons might be stored. But my mother was afraid that if we got involved with the NATO troops or even the Afghan authorities who were cooperating with them, that we would be seen as traitors and killed. We knew other families where this had happened. What happened in the end? So many different people were telling us to do one thing or another to work with the Westerners or the Taliban. But in the end, my mother decided what we should do and just told us. One night, she sat me and my older brother down. She said that we need to leave to somewhere far from here where no one knows us. And that was it. She didn't say where, for how long or when. She didn't ask our opinion or how we felt about it. Thank you, Gulwali. Nothing further. That completes the questions. You're now free to go. Thank you very much. Gulwali's story is one that resonates with many Afghans. There are those who remember nothing else but war and violence from NATO troops. We would like the panel and the audience to remember that according to the law experts you heard in trial session one, Professor Richard Falk and Thomas McManus, what Gulwali refers to as occupation has long been recognized as illegal by international law. Article 8, BIS, subsection 2A, shows how occupation is a crime of aggression. The invasion or attack by the armed forces of a state or territory of another state or any military occupation, however temporary, resulting from such invasion or attack or any annexation by the use of force of the territory of another state or part thereof. To quote Arwin Rahi, author and former advisor to the Parwan governor in Afghanistan, all the aforementioned invasions of Afghanistan have had four things in common. First, an initial quick military victory for the invader. Second, that victory turning into a stalemate. Third, an eventual face-saving withdrawal. And fourth, Afghanistan becoming an economic liability for the invader. We propose that the modern 2001 invasion was a continuation of Britain's colonial legacy and neither self-defense as first claimed by the invaders, nor responsibility to protect as later alleged. Nothing further. Thank you. We convene at 8 p.m. to begin trial session 3, which will focus on the political reasoning behind the 2001 invasion, and we will hear testimony from an anonymous British ambassador. Thank you very much.