Gittoes was working at home in his studio at Bundeena, on the coast south of Sydney, when the world suddenly changed on 11 September 2001. The resulting wars and confusion in the Middle East were to provide the driving force for Gittoes’ career over the next decade and a half. By November 2001 the United States had invaded Afghanistan and overthrown the Taliban government, beginning a decade-and-a-half of war in the country. Gittoes had already visited Afghanistan as part of the "Minefields" project, and quickly became engaged in the effects of this new war on the country. He has maintained this engagement ever since. In early 2002 he travelled to Afghanistan for six weeks with Médecins sans Frontières, visiting refugee camps established after the invasion. He also had a commission from the Visible Art Foundation in Melbourne to paint three works marking the 11 September anniversary for the Republic Tower Art Space. The works, "War on Terra", were rejected – for political reasons, Gittoes believed – but later exhibited at St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne. Later in the year, a trip to America, where the build-up to the war in Iraq had already begun, led to a turning point in Gittoes’ career. He had always been interested in popular culture, but now he saw a new importance in reaching the MTV and rap-music generation of younger Americans, many of whom would be fighting in the war. This helped lead him back into film-making.