An Afghan TV presenter said she was banned from working for her channel this week after the Taliban took power in her country and called for help in a video posted online. “Those who listen to me, if the world hears me, please help us because our lives are in danger,” Shabnam Dawran, a well-known journalist, said in the video, wearing a veil and showing her card. business.
Men yes, women no
After taking power on Sunday, after a swift ten-day military campaign, the Taliban said they would respect women’s rights, be allowed to receive an education and work, and that the media would be independent and free. Another Taliban official even walked the talk by sitting down with a female reporter for a face-to-face interview.
But Shabnam Dawran, who has worked for public broadcaster RTA for six years, claimed she was not allowed to go to work this week, unlike her male colleagues. “I didn’t give up after the system change and went to my office, but unfortunately I was not allowed in, even though I showed my office card,” she continued in the video. “Male employees with office cards were allowed to enter the office, but I was told that I could not continue to perform my duties because the system has changed,” she added.
The world skeptical of the Taliban’s promises
The international community and many Afghans remain extremely skeptical of the Taliban’s promises. Afghans, especially women and religious minorities, remember the brutal fundamentalist regime they established when they were in power between 1996 and 2001. They then imposed an ultra-rigorous version of Islamic law. Women could neither work nor study, and thieves and murderers faced terrible punishments.
Among those who shared the video was Miraqa Popal, an editor at Afghan 24-hour news channel Tolo News. “The Taliban did not allow my former colleague, Shabnam Dawran to start working today,” he wrote on Wednesday in a tweet shared thousands of times. The day before, Miraqa Popal had posted on her Twitter account a photo of a Tolo News presenter, with the caption: “We resumed our broadcasts with presenters today”.