The Land of the Enlightened plot
"How children master their lives in war-torn Afghanistan by engaging in ingenious commerce."
A group of Kuchi children live in a minefield around Bagram Airport in Afghanistan. They excavate anti-personnel mines to sell the explosives to child laborers who work at a Lappis Lazulli mine. The route of the blue gems goes to Tajikistan and China, through an area controlled by child soldiers. When not waging their own mini-wars in the everyday madness of life in Afghanistan, the neighborhood kids flee into their personal fantasies and dreams while the American soldiers plan their retreat...