With indomitable courage, women journalists in Afghanistan continue to bring live reports and citizens' voices from the terror-torn ground zero. This coterie of news bearers stands tall across mediums - television, print, radio, digital - in the face of an oppressive regime that, only mere days into seizing power, has begun cracking down on gender rights and speech freedoms.
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"Don't know if I will survive" - as activists on-ground have told us - seems to be the general sentiment of despair plaguing Afghan women. Even so, notwithstanding the immediate and gradual threat to their lives, women are rising up in numbers to get back to work - a right they reclaimed over the last 20 years.
In many ways, the fourth estate is one of the last-standing pillars holding up hope in Afghanistan, the rest having crumbled with the Taliban's taking of Kabul on August 15. Taking to the streets and newsrooms, women journalists in Afghanistan are reaching where the story is, relaying real-time information to the country's people
A day into the Taliban rule, when much of Kabul entered self-confinement in anticipation of the worst, TOLO News journalists Hasiba Atakpal and Zahra Rahimigathered their equipment and made their way to work, as usual, leaving audiences in awe of their grit.
In TOLO News' studio, television presenter Beheshta Arghand sat across from Taliban spokesman Mawlawi Abdulhaq Hemad, probing him on their plan of action for Afghanistan in the days to come.
Though this experiment occurred as part of the Taliban's outreach programme to present a more moderate, seemingly liberal face in tolerance of women's rights, what overshadowed their suspicious scheme was the tenacity with which Arghand faced Hemad despite uncertainty hanging heavy in the air.
Meanwhile, another TOLO journalist Anisa Shaheed remains strong in her resolve to continue reporting - even if that means taking a different route to work daily, for the sake of her safety. "If I can't be a journalist, I would rather do nothing and stay home," she tells BBC.
Afghan women are joined in their spirited reporting by their international colleagues on-ground with them. Among the most notable of such faces is CNN's Clarissa Ward who, in her head-to-toe garb and hijab as dictated by the Taliban, stepped out with her crew on roads to broadcast daily reports, braving direct confrontations and resistance from armed fighters.
Why Women Journalists In Afghanistan, Reporting Amid Panic, Deserve Recognition
Life under the fundamentalist rule of the Taliban threatens to be bereft of any independence and, given their track record of criminal misogyny, more so for women who risk losing their agency to work, study, or venture out into public society. Though the terror outfit has attempted appeasement by assuring human rights would be protected, women have reason to believe their promises are all but empty. Here's what Afghan women are telling SheThePeople.
It is why several are still wary of stepping out of their homes. Award-winning journalist Maryam Nabavi, who works with the radio in Kabul, tells us she hasn't returned to work yet and is awaiting clarity. Leaving the country seems to be the best proposition for her right now and she tells us she has already made one (unsuccessful) attempt to evacuate with other journalists. "Every day flights go empty... I am on the list of Reuters journalists they are trying to transfer."
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"Many women, like me, are fearing for their lives and have become bereft of courage. We remain in shock," she writes further in a piece for SheThePeople.
Fearing for their lives is only justified, the way the situation is unfolding.
It was New Zealand journalist Charlotte Bellis who asked the Taliban at their press conference about the future of female journalists' employment, being told women would be permitted rights within the "limits of Islam." Predictably, the Taliban is backtracking on its promises of protecting women's work rights since only hours after their public address, reports surfaced of well-known anchor Shabnam Dawran being told to "go home" from the studio. Read here.
Taliban didn't allow my ex-colleague here in @TOLOnews and famous anchor of the State-owned @rtapashto Shabnam Dawran to start her work today. " Despite wearing a hijab & carrying correct ID, I was told by Taliban: The regime has changed. Go home"#Afghanistan#Talbanpic.twitter.com/rXK7LWvddX
Similar was the case with another anchor Khadija Amin who, according to The New York Times, revealed on an online chat room that the state media she worked for had suspended her and other female staff. "The Taliban is the Taliban. They have not changed," she reportedly said.
Journalism for women in Afghanistan has never been a friendly profession. Data from the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee published earlier this year shows in the last six months, 20 percent women have dropped out of journalism, fearing attacks, or worse, death. Local reports note over a hundred cases of violence against female journalists were registered in one year. Pushback from the Taliban in recent months has prompted women to leave the field by the dozen, reports suggest.
Those who can and are willing, are not ready to compromise on their hard-earned work experience. Others seek security and assurance before they can plan ahead. Yet others feel it is in their best interests to step out entirely. Either way, their very identity as women journalists in Afghanistan comes through as an act of resistance.
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