"Kabul" – A French Series Depicting the Fall and Evacuation of Afghanistan

The new French mini-series Kabul, which dramatizes the fall of Kabul and the chaotic withdrawal of Western forces from Afghanistan, premiered at the Series Mania Festival in Lille, France, and aired its first episode on France 2 on March 31.

This six-part series draws inspiration from the real-life experiences of French producer Fabienne Servan-Schreiber, who was deeply involved in trying to evacuate a group of Afghan artists and doctors during the 2021 emergency airlift. When private flights were canceled, she was forced to negotiate with officials from France, the UK, the US, and Qatar in an attempt to save lives.

Her son, Mathias Weber, turned this harrowing episode into a television project, aiming to shed light on the untold human stories behind the headlines.

Kabul was made with a budget of $20 million and is directed by acclaimed Polish filmmakers Kasia Adamik and Olga Chajdas. Filmed in English and featuring an international cast, the series strives for both authenticity and emotional depth.

Weber emphasized the importance of having a female perspective at the center of the story. “Women were among the biggest victims of Afghanistan’s fall,” he said, stressing the need to portray their suffering under the Taliban with empathy and nuance.

One of the biggest challenges in the production was recreating the atmosphere of Kabul. The team scouted locations in India, Morocco, Spain, Jordan, and the UAE before ultimately settling on Greece, where an abandoned airport in Athens was transformed into a stand-in for Kabul’s airport.

A joint production by 11 European countries, Kabul aims to explore the multi-layered political and social dimensions of the crisis. It follows a family struggling to flee Afghanistan while simultaneously portraying the impact of the fall on diplomats, soldiers, and civilians involved in the evacuation operation.

Speaking on the current state of Afghanistan, Fabienne Servan-Schreiber noted: “The future of women there has been completely shut down. They are imprisoned, silenced, and suicide rates among them are rising.” She hopes the series will raise global awareness about the plight of Afghan refugees—particularly women—and reignite international concern for their fate.

Kabul promises to be not just a political thriller, but also a deeply human story that puts faces and voices to one of the most dramatic global events of recent years