UPI ARCHIVES
NOV 23, 1982
Kirk Douglas in Pakistan
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Actor Kirk Douglas arrived in Pakistan Tuesday at the invitation of President Mohammad Zia-ul-haq to draw attention to the Afghan refugee problem.
‘It’s a problem that needs more attention,’ Douglas, 64, said upon arrival at Islamabad Airport from Los Angeles.
This news blurb, still resting in the files of United Press International, reported the beginning of what was to be a multi-media campaign, organized by USIA, to focus on the impact of the Soviet Union’s 1979 invasion of Afghanistan on its southern neighbor, Pakistan. In less than two years, over three million refugees had fled Soviet aggression to set up camps in the country’s tribal areas near Peshawar, at great cost to a government that was supporting international resistance to Soviet expansion, led by the United States.
Several weeks earlier, I was assigned to produce a documentary film of Douglas’ five-day trip. Since the itinerary would include a stay on our iconic national holiday, I named the film, “Thanksgiving in Peshawar.”
Our journey began in Karachi where I met Kirk Douglas and my film crew out of Thailand to board President Zia-ul-haq’s private plane for the hour-long flight up the Indus River to Pakistan’s capital city, Islamabad. After two days of encounters with local fans of his movies and several official briefings, the entourage flew north to Peshawar to encounter the refugees and visit wounded civilians evacuated to a local Red Cross Hospital. By that time, I had hired a second crew, just returned from the combat zones in Afghanistan, to help cover the remainder of a whirlwind tour.
Three weeks later, I was sitting with Kirk Douglas and U.S. Government officials in a Washington screening room to view the finished twenty-minute documentary. The posted version, designed for theatrical release, is a cut-down of the original. The full documentary will be available on this blog at a later date. Douglas complimented the film and promoted it in his subsequent public appearances. USIA released the longer version in multiple language for international television programming.
Credits for “Thanksgiving in Peshawar” can be accessed here.
On November 25th, 1982, actor, Kirk Douglas shares his Thanksgiving meal with Afghan refugees in the Tribal Area of Pakistan. 
November 1982. Kirk Douglas meets a young Afghan refugee patient at the Red Cross Hospital in Peshawar Pakistan, injured by a Soviet toy bomb. 
Hollywood star Kirk Douglas at the Khyber Pass in Pakistan, introducing audiences to his 1982 documentary film, “Thanksgiving in Peshawar.” 
In a 1982 official briefing in Islamabad, Kirk Douglas learns that some three million Afghan refugees were then hosted by the Pakistani government. 
Actor Kirk Douglas touring the Maszar refugee camp in Pakistan as part of his 1982 film report on the plight of Afghans who were fleeing the Soviet invasion of their country. 
Camera crews film actor Kirk Douglas receiving a welcome by Afghan refugee leaders.
Photography by Robert Hansen.
Kirk Douglas, apart from being an unparalleled actor, was a real-life hero. It’s a damn shame that less people are aware of just how great this man was. Thank you very much for sharing.
Fascinating footage. Incredible irony that ~25 years later the US would take on the fool’s errand of attacking and invading Afghanistan, only to find itself embroiled in a 20 year war of attrition.
War is hell.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” – Santayana