I never thought the Taliban would come back, says Afghan reporter

“Afghan women have achieved so much, but we are back at the starting point. We have gone back to the past.”

Ariana TV reporter Nazira Karimi from Afghanistan, with tears in her eyes, despaired about the situation of her country seized by the Taliban at the briefing room of the U.S. Department of Defense on Monday (local time).

“I am from Afghanistan. I never thought the Taliban would come back overnight,” she said while asking the Pentagon spokesperson questions. “This is the flag of my country. The Taliban took the flag and put up their own flag.” She pointed at the Afghanistan flag on her mask. She wept throughout her speech.

According to the Daily Mail, Karimi started her career as a reporter in Afghanistan. The Taliban threatened to kill her just because she is a “female” reporter and harassed her family. She eventually left her home with her husband in late 1990s to the U.S. via Pakistan. The Taliban cut off her brother’s ankles at home and violated her mother and sister.

“Where is our president who suggested us to fight against the Taliban altogether?” she said in fury about Afghan President Ashraf Ghani who packed money and fled to Uzbekistan on Sunday. “The people in Afghanistan thought the president would fight together with them, but he ran away.”


Eun-Taek Lee nabi@donga.com