The Covenant(2023)

Plot Summary

• US troops were deployed to Afghanistan in Oct 2001, after the 9/11 attacks. Initially only 1300 troops were assigned, but by December 2011 this had increased to 98,000 troops. 50,000 Afghans were employed as interpreters under the agreement that they would be eligible for Special Immigration Visas and relocation to America. The interpreters are regarded as traitors by the locals and the Taliban for collaborating with the enemy.In March 2018, in the middle of the War in Afghanistan, U.S. Army Special Forces Master Sergeant John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal) and his unit are ambushed by a truck bomb attack orchestrated by the Taliban during a routine vehicle inspection at Lashkargah, which claims the life of his interpreter. In need of a replacement, he is introduced to Ahmed Abdullah (Dar Salim), a steadfast yet disliked interpreter, who claims he pursues the job only for money. During an undercover capture mission, Kinley learns that Ahmed was previously affiliated with the Taliban through the opium trade but had defected when the organization murdered his son.Kinley's unit is tasked with searching of all potential locations with suspected Taliban personnel or IED factories. Ahmed is very well connected locally and tells Kinley that he is searching the wrong locations as US intel is not very good. Kinley feels that he is putting his team in danger everyday for no output. He speaks to his CO colonel Vokes, who informally asks Kinley to go after targets not fully investigated, a list of whom is supplied by Sgt. Declan O'Brady (Alexander Ludwig).Ahmed later saves Kinley's team from being ambushed by a Taliban unit aided by a compromised Afghan National Army soldier, earning Kinley's respect. Ahmed smelled the ambush when the Afghan solider led them on a particular road, and Ahmed got Kinley to stop the convoy. Satellite pictures reveal a ambush lined up 8 Kilometers down the road. Kinley's team includes Charlie "Jizzy" Crow (Sean Sagar), Joshua "JJ" Jung (Jason Wong), Tom 'Tom Cat' Hancock (Rhys Yates), Eduardo "Chow Chow" Lopez (Christian Ochoa), Steve Kersher (Bobby Schofield) and Jack "Jack Jack" Jackson (James Nelson-Joyce). Ahmed is shown to be married to Basira (Fariba Sheikhan) with a kid on the way.During another raid to check for a possible insurgent arms cache about 120 kilometers (74 miles) north of Bagram Air Base, Kinley's unit is attacked by Taliban reinforcements, who kill everyone except for him and Ahmed. Kinley's unit has requested air support when they discovered arms, but air cover was 15 minutes out when they were attacked. The duo manages to escape on a Taliban truck, killing several Taliban fighters in the process. The truck gets a flat, and Kinley cannot contact his base as the radio is out of range. Kinley and Ahmed are forced to abandon the truck and escape on foot, killing their pursuers in the process. The helicopters from base reach the original location and find 40 Taliban bodies and the bodies of the dead US soldiers minus Ahmed and Kinley.Whilst attempting to return to the airbase by navigating through the mountainous Afghan terrain, they are once again ambushed by insurgents, who manage to wound Kinley, before clubbing him with a rifle butt, incapacitating him. Ahmed manages to kill the Taliban and resolves to take Kinley back to the air base. Receiving help from some sympathetic Afghans, Ahmed evades the Taliban hunting them, carrying Kinley over the country's treacherous mountain topography. Several days later Ahmed and Kinley are near Bagram but are attacked by Taliban fighters; Ahmed kills the fighters but is shortly thereafter apprehended by U.S. troops.Three weeks later, Kinley, having been repatriated to his home in Santa Clarita, California, is completely unaware of how he was saved, but understands Ahmed's role in it. Kinley married to his wife Caroline (Emily Beecham) and has 2 kids. Upon learning that Ahmed and his family were forced to move underground owing to the duo's escapade having become local folklore (The Taliban have put a heavy price on Ahmed's head and is on their top 10 most wanted list), Kinley attempts to procure U.S. visas for them for over a month, but in vain. Emotionally tormented and rendered near sleepless by his inability to repay his indebtedness towards Ahmed, Kinley finally resolves to save him himself, enlisting the assistance of his superior, Lieutenant Colonel Vokes (Jonny Lee Miller), to procure the visas.Returning to Afghanistan under the alias of Ron Kay, Kinley meets with Parker (Antony Starr), a private military contractor, who promises to provide support on the condition that the former locates Ahmed first. But Kinley has to find Ahmed alone. Meanwhile Ahmed is being actively hunted by the Taliban, and he has to move frequently with his family to survive.Kinley meets Ahmed's brother Ali, a Taliban supplier who manages to smuggle Kinley across their territory; in the process, he kills two insurgents after nearly being caught at a road checkpoint, which alerts the Taliban with the sound of gunfire that echoes through the mountains. Vokes informs Kinley that the visas have been processed and are with Parker. Finally arriving at Ahmed's hideout, Kinley persuades him and his family to accompany him to the U.S. Meanwhile, Parker deduces Kinley's true identity; realizing the danger that the duo is in due to their value to the Taliban, he arranges for an AC-130 gunship and an Apache attack helicopter to provide air support. Concurrently, the Taliban mount an attack on Kinley, who manages to escape with Ahmed's family to the nearby Darunta Dam which is the extraction point designated by Parker.Cornered by approaching Taliban units, the duo engages them in a protracted gunfight, which ends when they run out of ammunition. However, the AC-130 and Apache helicopter arrive and wipe out the attackers. Parker arrives from the other end of the dam with a relief column of anti-Taliban technical personnel. He tells Kinley he would have supported his mission gratis had he known upfront it was him. Escorted back to Bagram, the group boards an Airbus A400M leaving Afghanistan.The film's ending title states that in the aftermath of the Taliban's recapture of Afghanistan, over 300 Afghan interpreters affiliated with the U.S. military were murdered by the organization, with thousands more still in hiding.

Storyline

• Guy Ritchie's The Covenant follows US Army Sergeant John Kinley (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Afghan interpreter Ahmed (Dar Salim). After an ambush, Ahmed goes to Herculean lengths to save Kinley's life. When Kinley learns that Ahmed and his family were not given safe passage to America as promised, he must repay his debt by returning to the war zone to retrieve them before the Taliban hunts them down first. — MGM