Afghanistan: Armed Taliban fighters surround TV host on air

The host of an Afghan politics show is forced to read a Taliban statement as two fighters with assault rifles stand behind him.

Taliban gunmen surround an Afghan TV host live on air. Picture: Twitter.

Heavily armed Taliban fighters made an appearance on Afghan national television, surrounding the host of a political debate program as he told viewers to “not be afraid”.

In the scenes, the host of Peace Studio’s Pardaz political debate program addresses his audience, reading a statement from the Taliban while two fighters with assault rifles stand behind him.

The excerpt from the program, originally broadcast on Thursday and symbolising just how quickly Afghanistan has changed since President Ghani fled Kabul on August 15, has been viewed more than a million times on Twitter.

It was shared by the BBC World News anchor Yalda Hakim, who escaped Afghanistan as a child with her family before settling in Australia.

Translating the clip, Hakim said the host can be heard discussing the fall of the government – and saying that “the Afghan people should not … be afraid”.

Afghanistan TV - surreal

This is what a political debate now looks like on Afghan TV, Taliban foot soldiers watching over the host. The presenter talks about the collapse of the Ghani govt & says the Islamic Emirate says the Afghan people should not to be afraid #Afghanistanpic.twitter.com/oEverVgLOE

— Yalda Hakim (@BBCYaldaHakim) August 29, 2021

She described the situation as surreal, and added: “This is what a political debate now looks like on Afghan TV – Taliban foot soldiers watching over the host.”

The two gunmen are part of a wider group of at least eight, who reportedly stormed the TV station and demanded the presenter talk with them.

In a longer clip, the presenter is seen interviewing a Taliban fighter, switching from Dari to Pashto, the two official languages in Afghanistan.

The Taliban previously banned television and censored news reports when they were in power from 1996 to 2001. They have become more media-savvy since then, using social media and promising to allow a free press. Taliban fighters, however, have raided homes of journalists and their relatives, and killed one family member of a reporter working for Deutsche Welle, the German public broadcaster. Afghan journalists, particularly women, have described living in fear and many have felt compelled to leave the country.

Commenting on the clip on Twitter, the widely followed Iranian journalist and campaigner Masih Alinejad, who is based in New York, said the Taliban are “synonymous with fear in the minds of millions. This is just another proof.

“I call on President Biden to watch this and let us know if these militants posing behind this visibly petrified TV host are holding American weapons,” she added.

Hakim, 38, previously conducted an impromptu interview with Suhail Shaheen, the Taliban spokesman, who called her phone while she was live on air. She first allowed him to read a statement and then asked him a slew of questions.

Beheshta Arghand, an Afghan journalist who made headlines around the world when she became the first Afghan woman to interview a Taliban leader this month, has fled. The anchor at TOLO, an Afghan news network, said: “I left because like millions of people I fear the Taliban.”

The Times