She decided to become a reporter after 9/11 and became one of the most famous faces covering the Afghanistan war.
Clarissa Ward tells Brut what she witnessed in Kabul under the Taliban rule ...
Clarissa Ward tells Brut what she witnessed in Kabul under the Taliban rule ...
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00:00What happens in Afghanistan doesn't necessarily stay in Afghanistan.
00:14That's our escort just there on the other side of the river.
00:18The whole west side of this thing was loaded with drugs and weapons.
00:21Our visit with the Taliban is coming to a close.
00:30There's a lot hanging in the balance right now and a lot of things that could go very wrong,
00:35which would have repercussions not just for people in Afghanistan,
00:40but really for people all around the world potentially.
00:44And there are a number of different terrorist groups operating there.
00:49There's not a fear right now that they would pose a risk in terms of launching
00:53transnational attacks, but there is a concern that in five years time they could.
01:00I don't think anybody could have possibly expected the pace or the speed with which
01:11things happen. I never thought that there wouldn't be more of a fight,
01:16to be honest, put up by the Afghan forces.
01:23This is a sight I honestly thought I would never see.
01:26The most striking for me was to see the Taliban, who for years have been this vicious insurgency
01:34and launching blistering attacks and car bombings and so many civilian casualties
01:42incurred as a result of this insurgency, to see them suddenly riding around, smiling,
01:48friendly, wanting to be on camera, wanting to give interviews and talking in a way that
01:55sounded much more mature and pragmatic than the sort of rhetoric that one traditionally
02:02associates with the Taliban.
02:11There's no women in this interim government. There are no Hazaras or ethnic minorities
02:18in this interim government. And so there are real concerns that, yes,
02:25the Taliban might be talking the talk, but are they going to walk the walk?
02:35Both from people who maybe work directly with the U.S. military or the U.S. embassy or
02:39international organizations who are now really fearful that they could face reprisal
02:45or retaliation attacks because of their involvement with NATO forces.
02:50And then also from ordinary people who maybe had nothing to do with the U.S. while they
02:54were there, but are just fearful about the security situation and are worried that the
02:59Taliban is not going to be able to maintain control over the entire country, worried about
03:05the presence of ISIS-K and whether they might be launching more attacks, worried about the
03:11economic situation. We've seen these long, long lines outside the banks.
03:23It was a little bit scary, but it was also very interesting. I think I was one of the
03:28first Western journalists in many years to spend time in Taliban territory. And obviously,
03:33a lot of journalists have been kidnapped or threatened.
03:38It was obviously unusual as a woman, because the Taliban is not really used to dealing with
03:45women. And there were a few instances where they were clearly uncomfortable with my presence. I
03:50think it can be an advantage. It's a huge privilege to be able to enter the women's
03:56quarters and spend time with them and talk to them. That's 50 percent of the population that
04:01my male colleagues don't have access to at all. When most people don't want to go places,
04:07the voices of ordinary people in those places are the least likely to be heard,
04:12because they're marginalized or they're frightened and they don't have access to
04:18international media or their own media, whatever it might be.
04:23There's two factors here. There's the human element in terms of being worried about the
04:29future of the country. Will the Taliban be able to govern? Will they govern in an inclusive way?
04:33Will the security situation be OK? Will the economic situation be OK? Will there be enough
04:37food? Will there be enough work? All those sorts of things. And then there's also the more
04:42pragmatic kind of security threat. Will there be enough food? Will there be enough work?
04:49There's also the more pragmatic kind of security threat. Will Afghanistan pose a security threat,
04:55potentially? Could terrorist groups proliferate in this kind of an environment?
05:00And so for all those reasons, I think it's a story that
05:03the world needs to keep focused on and that journalists need to keep covering.