This video is a rare unguarded confession from inside the US military's Afghan media apparatus โ an Afghan propagandist who made the images Americans saw, now living in Fremont and explaining exactly what he was selling.
The top comment โ 'I'm ashamed of what my country did to Afghanistan' โ pulled 172 likes, the highest on the video, meaning shame outweighed every other emotional response even among viewers who chose to watch.
Mohammad uses the word 'propaganda' about his own work without flinching, which collapses the comfortable distance between the American viewer and their government's information war and makes the interview feel like testimony rather than journalism.
Watch outA vocal minority frames Mohammad as a traitor rather than a victim โ 'acting as agent for a foreign government is not something you should be proud of' โ and that counter-reading could harden if the video recirculates in Afghan diaspora or anti-NATO communities.
If the man who manufactured the images of progress is now a refugee in a California park, the open question is who exactly the 20-year project was ever for.
Peter Santenello interviews Mohammad, an Afghan man who produced media and propaganda content for the US and NATO during the 20-year occupation, now living as a refugee in the Fremont, California area. Mohammad recounts what it was like to create the content Americans saw about Afghanistan, how he had access to do so, and what happened when the Taliban retook the country in 2021. He describes the chaotic US withdrawal, the collapse of the Afghan army, a near-miss with an explosion he was warned about minutes before it happened, and the difficulties he now faces resettling in the US without a credit history.
Peter Santenello interviews Mohammad, an Afghan who produced US-backed propaganda videos inside Kabul during the occupation and is now resettled in Fremont, California near one of the largest Afghan diaspora communities outside Afghanistan. The conversation moves through how Mohammad gained access to US military media infrastructure, what the propaganda was designed to show versus what life actually looked like โ particularly for women โ and the moment the entire apparatus collapsed. Mohammad's candor about calling the work propaganda by name gives the interview an unusual confessional quality that the comment section treated as evidence, not performance.
How this video's like-and-comment rate compares to this channel's running average.
Author-defined structure โ tap a timestamp to jump to that moment.
Opening 15 seconds โ the bit that decides whether a viewer keeps watching.
โ[0:02] CREATING PROPAGANDA VIDEOS / [0:08] YOU WERE WHAT WE SAW ON THE MEDIA (transcript unavailable; inferred from chapter-title quotes)
Chapter markers reveal a cold-open interview format โ the subject is already discussing propaganda creation within 2 seconds with zero setup preamble. 'You were what we saw on the media' delivers instant stakes and character credibility, a pattern Santenello deploys in his strongest-performing interview content; the word 'propaganda' spoken candidly by the subject (praised explicitly in comment #11) is the hook's single most powerful element.
Three alternative openings, each in a different archetype. Each is under 40 words โ completable in 15 seconds.
โHe spent 20 years filming propaganda for the US military inside Afghanistan. Now the Taliban is hunting him โ and he's living in an American suburb.โ
WhyFront-loads the physical danger and ironic reversal that the in-media-res opener leaves implicit, giving the 53% shame/criticism audience a concrete hook before the first frame.
โIf you believe America went to Afghanistan to help โ this Afghan man made the videos you saw. Here's what he says now.โ
WhyDirectly challenges the viewer's prior belief state, activating both the shame cluster and the awareness-seeker cluster simultaneously.
โThe Afghan man who made US propaganda says it wasn't lies โ and that's exactly what makes it terrifying.โ
WhySubverts the expected 'it was all fake' narrative and honours the commenter praise for Mohammad's honesty, generating curiosity that a straight betrayal framing can't.
The title promises a narrow propaganda-mechanics story but the video's emotional centre of gravity โ as revealed by 53% of comments โ is US betrayal and abandonment of Afghan allies; the top comment is 'I'm ashamed of what my country did.' The propaganda framing is accurate but fails to surface the human cost (housing discrimination, job loss, family separation) that drove the most emotionally resonant comment threads.
Mohammad's face in close foreground with an American flag soft-focused behind him; bold text overlay reading 'HE MADE THEIR VIDEOS' โ mirrors the propaganda aesthetic and the commenter-praised honesty of the word 'propaganda' spoken on camera.
446 comments analysed and clustered into themes.
Commenters repeatedly praised Mohammad's willingness to call his own work 'propaganda' without euphemism โ 'I love how he was honest in explicitly referring to it as propaganda, he's an honest guy.' The framing of 'there's what the media tells you and then there's the truth' resonated as a thesis statement for the whole video. Multiple viewers described Peter as doing 'more beneficial work than every political YouTuber combined' for choosing to humanize people the US news cycle had forgotten.
How the audience feels โ a Net Sentiment mood score, how split the room is, and an early churn signal. All from the comments, not YouTube analytics.
Net Sentiment Score over 250 analysed comments; headline adjusted toward the channel norm (Bayesian, C=20). Polarization = normalised entropy. Comment-derived โ not YouTube analytics.
Who actually showed up in the comments โ psychographic, topical and language mix. Computed deterministically from 250 labeled root comments.
YouTubeโs 2025 discovery shift now weights satisfaction signals โ comment sentiment, tone, and depth. We canโt see the model, but we can estimate its inputs. Directional only.
Each comment theme mapped to the transcript moment that sparked it.
Mohammad explicitly confirms the propaganda was working as designed โ the moment the artifice is named out loud triggered the shame response that dominated the comment section.
The opening framing of 'creating propaganda videos' for a foreign military appears to have primed the traitor-labeling reaction, with commenters splitting sharply on whether this was brave or shameful.
The access chapter โ how Mohammad got close to military operations โ set up the credibility question that made the explosion warning detail feel suspicious or conspiratorial to multiple viewers.
The 'you were what we saw on the media' chapter โ Mohammad describing himself as the face of US messaging โ gave Peter's interview format its sharpest contrast with mainstream coverage, which commenters noted directly.
Severity ร frequency โ ranked. Each point has an evidence quote and a concrete before/after suggestion.
โThis man only spoke from point of view of working for NATO and getting paid but out of the city of Kabul, everyone suffered.โโ view
โacting as agent for a foreign government in your own country is not something you should be proud of, anywhere in the worldโโ view
โSince the Ukraine war your channel seems to change from non-partisan perspective to a NATO-identified perspective.โโ view
โDo not call us "Afghani" It is the worst thing you can do to us! We are Afghans NOT Afghanis!โโ view
โ4:32 Who warned him to leave before the bombing? Why are the soldiers not warn?โโ view
โit is not 20 years of war bro, it is more of 40-45 years.โโ view
What a brand or agency would see evaluating this video โ which sponsors to pitch, why, what to charge, and what's safe.
This is a deeply loyal, high-trust audience โ dozens of comments call it the best channel on YouTube (#28, #34, #40, #44) and one literally asks for a follow-up on the guest's job search (#14, #81), showing they act on what Peter surfaces. But the buy intent here is cause-driven, not product-driven: viewers talk about volunteering and helping refugees (#8, #61, #72 'we have 850 Afghan families'), not buying things. The channel is highly sponsorable; THIS politically charged video needs a carefully matched, non-controversial brand before placing a read.
Mid-roll only, read by Peter in his own voice and placed AFTER the emotional women's-rights segment (12:23) so a brand never sits beside war-trauma content โ never pre-roll on a video opening on Afghanistan.
โPlease update us if a job position is found for Mohammad through this video!โโ Audience expects and acts on follow-through โ proof a call-to-action from this host converts.โ view
โSantanello does more beneficial work/ education than every political youtuber/streamer combined.โโ Authority/trust signal โ the host's endorsement carries weight an ad never would.โ view
โThere's what the media tells you and then there's the truth....โโ Top-liked comment proving the media-skeptic positioning that makes Ground News a perfect-fit sponsor.โ view
Algorithm Signal is a proxy. YouTubeโs satisfaction scores arenโt public. Directional, not predictive.
Unanswered questions and explicit requests from the comment thread โ fuel for the next upload.
Three video ideas pulled directly from what the comments asked for.
Return to Mohammad โ did the video change his life? Job, visa status, family reunification update
On-the-ground in Fremont, CA โ the largest Afghan community outside Afghanistan reacts to how the US covered the withdrawal
Afghan women 12 months after Taliban takeover โ daily life, restrictions, resistance
The $85 billion question โ where did the US military equipment go, and who has it now
Non-partisan foreign policy series: interview a Serbian civilian bombed by NATO in Belgrade, then a Libyan after the intervention โ parallel structure to this Afghan video
Afghan families being resettled across the US โ volunteers, housing barriers, credit history catch-22
Concrete, testable changes for the next upload. Each cites a timestamp, a comment quote, or a metric โ and names what to watch.
Correct the on-screen/spoken 'Afghani' โ 'Afghan' terminology in future uploads and add a pinned correction here.
Publish a short follow-up on Mohammad's outcome/job status.
Tighten comment moderation against impersonation/scam bots and copy-paste religious spam.
Pre-empt the bias critique by labeling perspective explicitly and committing on-screen to a counter-perspective interview.
Add granular chapters around the women's-rights segment and the 'propaganda' admission.
Address the recurring 'how did he get the warning text 10 minutes before the bombing' question with an on-screen clarification or follow-up.
Create a pinned 'how to help' resource block linking vetted Afghan-refugee aid orgs.
Lead future region interviews with the guest's own stated motivations to blunt 'traitor/paid agent' framing.
Who to reply to first โ ranked by impact, with a ready-to-send draft in your voice.
Hi Peter, thank you for creating awareness as always. My only comment is 'Afghani' means 'Afghan Currency' while 'Afghans' means 'the people of Afghanistan". Hope you can make this correction to the video. All the best!
You are completely right and I appreciate you catching that โ 'Afghani' is the currency, 'Afghans' are the people. Adding a pinned correction now. Thank you.
Peter, you feel sorry for those US citizens who might be stuck in Afghanistan under Taliban rule. I'm sure you must have felt sorry for those millions native Afghans who were stuck in Afghanistan under the US failed attempt of invasion... Praying for peace everywhere.
That's a fair point and honestly Mohammad said something similar off camera โ the Afghans who never had a choice in any of this suffered the most. That story deserves its own video. Praying for peace too.
Please update us if a job position is found for Mohammad through this video!
I'm going to follow up with Mohammad and will share an update here if something comes through. Thank you for caring about what happens to him.
4:32 Who warned him to leave before the bombing? Why are the soldiers not warn?
That detail stuck with me too. He mentioned it was an informal contact who tipped him off โ the kind of network people quietly build in dangerous situations. I should have pushed harder on who and how; it's a real loose end.
I just wanna know one thing have a question he said that he was there when explosion happen in kabul but later on he said he got a text message 10 minutes before The explosion to get out of there who text him and how they knew about explosion whoever text Him Did the explosion obviously the government
Good catch โ it's a real contradiction and I didn't press hard enough on it in the moment. He told me it was someone he trusted from inside, but I should have asked exactly who and how they knew. That's a follow-up worth having.
Since the Ukraine war your channel seems to change from non-partisan perspective to a NATO-identified perspective. You might loose many viewers if you continue to show NATO as a kind of friendly organization fighting against the bad guys outside of NATO. If you want to remain non-partisan then you should interview: Serbians that were bombed by the US in Belgrade, Libyans that lost the stability of their country after NATO-Intervention or Afghans who lost their loved ones due to US drone strikes. About the last topic I recommend the documentary "National bird".
I hear you and I take this seriously. I haven't sat with a Serbian whose home was bombed or a Libyan since Gaddafi fell โ those stories are real and they matter. I'll look into National Bird. The goal has always been to find the human being, not to pick a side.
He could have mentioned why Afghan families are starving and not able to work or go to school because America stole 9.8 billion dollars from the national bank. I am an Afghan and what America and NATO have done to Afghanistan will never be forgotten by the innocent people. 560 thousand were murdered by the rockets, and bullets of the terrorizers USA and NATO. I know this guy seems innocent but these are the enemies of Afghanistan who for 20 years used propaganda to kill other Afghans. He was the problem. The only reason why the president of Afghanistan called it quit and ran was that America had a plan to assassinate him and continue the war between the National Army and the Taliban. The president realized and was told by his close people about the situation and this is why he called off the army and the Taliban took over. The country was a shit show. the corruption was huge and the division amongst different ethnic groups was ridiculous. This man only spoke from point of view of working for NATO and getting paid but out of the city of Kabul, everyone suffered. I can go on for hours but all I have to say is that America was never going to be successful there because of the looters in charge of the government like the man speaking. Also, America was getting sick laundering money through Afghanistan because of all the hassle so they found Ukraine and moved on. Take care everyone.
Thank you for writing all of this โ the frozen $9.8B, the ethnic divisions, the way the corruption ran deep outside Kabul โ Mohammad's story is one slice of something much larger and I appreciate you filling in what he didn't say. I want to keep coming back to Afghanistan specifically because of voices like yours.
We have 850 Afghan families we are trying to help. We don't have even volunteers and these families need so much help! They've been through hell. It's heartbreaking.
850 families โ that's an enormous need. Can you drop a link or a way to get in touch here? I'd love to point people toward your work.
About 3 months ago I volunteered at a local church in Houston, TX putting together care packages for about 2,000 Afghans that were coming to the Houston area. Pots and pans, etc. What surprised me was that these poor people were still being relocated throughout the US. I can't even fathom the emotional turmoil those families are still going through. ๐
Pots and pans for 2,000 families โ that's the kind of thing that actually helps. Thank you for showing up like that. The relocation process is far longer and harder than most people realize, and your comment helps people understand that.
After being in AFG for 5 years, I really feel for him. He knows exactly what he is speaking about!
Five years in country โ your read on this means more than most. Thank you for saying that.
I have no respect for a traitor, if he can betray his mother land he can betray any country, traitors are the worst kind of People with no dignity and should never br trusted.
I understand why you see it that way โ these are impossible loyalties in an impossible situation. Mohammad believed he was building something real. Whether that makes it right is a question I keep thinking about too.
I wish I could meet you, I live in Fremont. I don't know how to get a hold of you though, but it would be pretty cool to tell you about my side of everything being Caucasian living here. The one that saw those propaganda videos and yet I live amongst the number one population of Afghans in the world outside of Afghanistan.
Little Kabul in Fremont is already on my list โ and your perspective, someone who's been inside that community watching all of this unfold, is exactly what I'd want to hear. Reach out through my website.
Shareable social-proof quotes โ ready for thumbnails, community posts, or a sponsor deck.
โThere's what the media tells you and then there's the truth....โ
โYou are showing Americans how to care for others Peter....great work!โ
โI love how he was honest in explicitly referring to it as "propaganda". He's a honest guyโ
โSantanello does more beneficial work/ education than every political youtuber/streamer combined. This is all it means to be an American, it's very simple but apparently we've forgottenโ
โAfter being in AFG for 5 years, I really feel for him. He knows exactly what he is speaking about!โ
โPeter as afghan Australian I would like to thank you for always trying to bring the Truth to us which the Media never showsโ
โLove how he says the government and not the people โฅ๏ธ๐ค๐โ
โI wish there was more You Tubers making the content Peter Santenello makes, the content he makes is insightful and entertaining at the same time...something other you tubers can't provideโ
Moments worth cutting into Shorts โ each with a title and a ready hook line. Timestamps link to the video.
Verbatim โ the 5 most representative comments from the thread.
I'm ashamed of what my country did to Afghanistan. What a shame.
There's what the media tells you and then there's the truth....
You are showing Americans how to care for others Peter....great work!
After being in AFG for 5 years, I really feel for him. He knows exactly what he is speaking about!
Hi Peter, thank you for creating awareness as always. My only comment is 'Afghani' means 'Afghan Currency' while 'Afghans' means 'the people of Afghanistan". Hope you can make this correction to the video. All the best!
Top reply-magnet comments โ where the real debate happened. 0 replies across 0 roots ยท max chain 1 deep ยท creator replied to 0%
I'm ashamed of what my country did to Afghanistan. What a shame.
There's what the media tells you and then there's the truth....
Hello Everyone! The spam bots have been hitting my channel lately so if you receive a whatsapp message with my picture, know that this is not me. Please ignore it. I will never hit you up in a comment trying to sell you something or by giving out a number.
You are showing Americans how to care for others Peter....great work!
Hi Peter, thank you for creating awareness as always. My only comment is โAfghaniโ means โAfghan Currencyโ while โAfghansโ means โthe people of Afghanistanโ. Hope you can make this correction to the video. All the best!
Other featured deep dives on this channel.
