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Inside Taliban-run Afghanistan in 2026 | BBC News — Transcript

by BBC News · 3,697 words · 599 segments · language en · Watch on YouTube

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0:00We can't be pictured in the same frame,
0:02and I can't sit across from him either
0:04because I'm a woman. I've been coming to
0:06Afghanistan since 2019.
0:08>> It's delicious. I can't talk.
0:10>> This is my room. This is where we're
0:11sleeping for a few nights.
0:14Over the years, I've traveled across it,
0:16and I've been on the ground witnessing
0:18the changes imposed by the Taliban since
0:20they regained power in 2021 after
0:23foreign troops withdrew following two
0:25decades of war.
0:26>> Someone from the Taliban police has come
0:28to stop us to see what they
0:30>> I think because we're women, we can't
0:32actually go into those parks.
0:35>> Access to the country is tightly
0:36controlled by the Taliban government.
0:38And even once you're inside, there's a
0:40lot of paperwork to wade through before
0:42you can get started.
0:43>> Do you have the letters? Ministry of
0:45Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Information
0:47and Culture, Ministry of Public Health.
0:50>> My team and I recently spent nearly a
0:51month in the country meeting people in
0:54cities and villages, hearing about the
0:56severe restrictions women are facing,
0:58and the unprecedented hunger crisis
1:00engulfing the country.
1:02>> Sanjay, they ran towards something. It
1:04was bread. Somebody gave them bread.
1:07>> After days of negotiations, we also
1:09secured an interview with a senior
1:11Taliban official.
1:13>> How can you continue to justify this ban
1:15on education on girls and [music] women?
1:22>> So, after 5 days of waiting, we finally
1:25got our first set of permissions to
1:29operate in Afghanistan, and we're just
1:32on our way now to do our first bit of
1:33filming in this country on this trip.
1:36On our visits to Afghanistan, one of the
1:39key stories we've consistently reported
1:41on is the impact of the brutal
1:42restrictions imposed on women by the
1:45Taliban government.
1:46Women have to be covered from head to
1:48toe with only their eyes visible. And
1:50increasingly, this dress code is being
1:52vigorously [music]
1:53enforced. We also follow a a code when
1:55we're in the country, but because we're
1:57foreign, my colleague Imogen Anderson
1:59and I get away with wearing loose gowns
2:01and covering our hair. But on a few
2:03occasions, we have encountered the
2:05morality police ordering us to cover our
2:07[music] faces.
2:08Women are banned from numerous public
2:10places including parks. From a balcony
2:13[music] overlooking one park, we saw men
2:15playing with their children,
2:17their wives waiting alongside us. Of
2:20course, the most shocking restriction is
2:22the [music] bar on education for girls.
2:25Afghanistan is the only country in
2:27[music] the world to impose it.
2:29Younger girls can still go to school,
2:31but after the age of 13, that stops.
2:34In a discreet location, we met some
2:36older teenagers enrolled in one of a few
2:38short-term [music] English courses which
2:40continue slipping through the cracks of
2:42Taliban dictates.
2:44One had traveled hundreds of miles to
2:46Kabul to avoid being forced into
2:48marriage by her family. We can't
2:50identify her for her safety.
2:54>> Before the ban, my parents passionately
2:56encouraged me to study. They believed in
2:59me and told me I can definitely achieve
3:01my dream of becoming a pilot. But now
3:04they say the best way for me is to get
3:06married because I can't go to school, to
3:09university. I can't even work. I'm
3:11afraid if I return to Daikundi, I will
3:15be forced to get married.
3:18>> How long do you think you can resist?
3:20How long do you think you can hold the
3:21line?
3:23>> I will keep resisting until I can no
3:25longer breathe. I want a better future.
3:31>> [music]
3:31>> While we were speaking to Afghan women,
3:33we were also trying to secure an
3:35interview with a Taliban spokesman so we
3:37could challenge him about the ban. It
3:39would take several more days before that
3:41happened.
3:42We've just finished a really long day of
3:46interviewing Afghan girls and women
3:48about the ban on education. They're
3:50difficult interviews
3:52because it's a basic right that's being
3:54denied to half of the population of this
3:57country. It's depressing, it's saddening
4:00to listen to those stories. What I'm
4:02also just incredibly amazed by is how
4:04much courage and resilience and um
4:07the strength that they want to speak
4:09out, they want the world to hear their
4:10voice. At the end of days like these um
4:14I I you know, it's exhausting, but I
4:16also feel charged up. I also feel that
4:18we've got a huge responsibility to get
4:20those voices out.
4:24>> Sorry, I need to stop chewing my first
4:26bite.
4:29So, that's a really palm warm piece of
4:31bread that I've just gotten.
4:33I absolutely love it.
4:36It's delicious. I can't talk.
4:37>> [laughter]
4:39>> Afghan bread has sustained us on many
4:41long days. By now, we'd been in the
4:44country for over a week preparing
4:45reports to go out across TV, radio, and
4:48digital.
4:49>> We've been filming in the street here
4:51and what we've had as we always have is
4:54someone from the Taliban police has come
4:56to stop us to see what we're filming. We
4:58do have a letter of permission from the
5:01police headquarters. Uh but even that,
5:04you know, it does require some amount of
5:06negotiation to actually uh for them to
5:09actually allow us to continue working.
5:12And even on quite a simple story where
5:13we're just filming the markets here.
5:16>> After the war ended in 2021, one of the
5:18things that has changed in Afghanistan
5:20that it's relatively safe to get around.
5:23We've been able to travel across the
5:25country and ordinary Afghans are slowly
5:28getting accustomed to not living under
5:30the constant fear of bombs and
5:31explosions.
5:34But a new conflict with neighboring
5:35Pakistan that broke out in October 2025
5:38is threatening this relative peace.
5:41Hundreds have been killed in strikes
5:43from across the border.
5:45We looked into [music] one of the deadly
5:46strikes not just during this conflict,
5:48but in Afghanistan's recent history.
5:51In March, a Pakistani airstrike in the
5:53capital Kabul killed at least 269
5:56people. It hit a drug rehabilitation
5:59center.
5:59>> You understand English?
6:01A little bit.
6:02>> We spoke to the family of 35-year-old
6:04Muhammad Anwar Ali Zada, a father of
6:06six, who was killed in the attack.
6:08>> [music]
6:09>> Anwar's brother, Siddique, said they
6:10spent days going through horrific photos
6:13of the dead to identify their brother's
6:15severed body.
6:18>> It was painful to not know whether he
6:20was dead or alive, and [music] then to
6:22find him cut in half.
6:24It was traumatic.
6:26>> Islamabad denies it hit civilians. It
6:28says it targeted terrorist
6:30infrastructure, accusing the Taliban
6:32government of harboring militants that
6:34are carrying out strikes in Pakistan.
6:36>> [music]
6:36>> We put that response to Anwar's brother.
6:38>> The whole world knew this facility. It
6:41wasn't a military base. It housed
6:43patients and addicts. Targeting
6:46hospitals is not Islamic, nor human.
6:49This is savage cruelty.
6:52>> We've just finished filming an
6:54interview, which is quite a difficult
6:56one, and my colleague, Sanjay, is just
6:59getting some shots of
7:01uh the surroundings. And normally,
7:03whenever we do this, we always attract a
7:05little bit of attention, so you can see
7:07all the kids in the area have gathered
7:09here, and they're
7:11having a look at what he's doing.
7:14>> [music]
7:16>> The next day, we continued gathering
7:17evidence of the attack. At a mass grave,
7:19where tens of the victims are buried, my
7:21colleague, Mahfooz Zubairi, and I spoke
7:23to Masuda, the sister of Mirwais.
7:26>> Do you know where your brother is buried
7:29in this graveyard?
7:30>> She doesn't know [music] exactly where
7:31Mirwais's grave is, because all they
7:34found of her 24-year-old brother, a
7:37pharmacist, was his torso, which she
7:40identified by a birthmark.
7:44>> My brother's body was in pieces. There
7:47was nothing left of him to give to us.
7:49So, they buried him here.
7:52After our mother died, I raised him like
7:54a son.
7:55He lost his job, and that's why he got
7:58addicted to drugs.
8:01>> Masuda told us she comes every week to
8:03the graveyard to pray for her brother
8:05and the other victims.
8:07So, it's become really hard to operate
8:09here because for every small bit you
8:11need permissions. We've now come down
8:12from the hill, and you can just
8:13basically get a real good view of the
8:16city from where we are, and we want to
8:17get some shots, but obviously we can't
8:19just stop, get out, and start filming
8:21them. We need to
8:23ask the Taliban checkpoint that's behind
8:25us.
8:27>> Yes.
8:33>> When people think of Afghanistan, they
8:35often only think of war and conflict,
8:37but on the streets of Kabul, Afghan life
8:39and culture is always [music] on vibrant
8:41display. To get a real pulse of this
8:44country, we went to a traditional
8:45restaurant to meet Shoaib Sharifi, the
8:48head of the BBC's Afghan service, who
8:51has, in his 25 years as a journalist,
8:54covered different regimes go in and out
8:56of power in Afghanistan.
8:58>> They have been, in the past [music] 40
9:00years, they have been sort of a
9:04consistency of regimes lasting up to 5
9:07years. And each time when it's the year
9:09five, people are like, "Gosh, you know,
9:10it's year five. There will be a regime
9:12change, whether it's towards the
9:13beginning of the year end of the year."
9:14By the way, it's also the fifth year of
9:16the Taliban. But each time I've written
9:18fall of Kabul, the first one did happen
9:20after exactly
9:21>> five years.
9:22>> five years of the Mujahideen regime. And
9:24we were like, "Worried what's going to
9:25happen?" Kabul fell, coincidentally, to
9:27the Taliban. The third one did last for
9:30two decades.
9:31>> What is it that you think foreign
9:32journalists miss about this country when
9:34when we report about this country?
9:36>> The the diverse. So, when you go on the
9:38streets and you see how diverse
9:41we are. We have been in the crossroad of
9:43civilization. You can hardly find two
9:45Afghans to look alike. That means so
9:47diverse cultures. Really beauty and
9:49hospitality and love and kindness. But
9:53unfortunately some bitter reminders of
9:55war have a stamped a a different image.
10:00>> To get an in-depth sense of what's
10:02happening in the country, it's really
10:04important to get out of the capital
10:06Kabul.
10:08But getting around this mountainous
10:09country is not straightforward. Road
10:11journeys can take days and can be
10:13dangerous.
10:15We managed to sort access to a small
10:17six-seater aircraft which would fly us
10:19to the remote Ghor province from Kabul.
10:21The cabin was not pressurized so when we
10:23went [music] above a certain elevation
10:24we had to turn on the oxygen supply so
10:27we wouldn't have difficulty breathing.
10:33After flying over the striking Hindu
10:35Kush mountains for about 90 minutes, we
10:37arrived in Chaghcharan, the capital of
10:39Ghor province.
10:40We traveled there to cover another story
10:42we've consistently followed over the
10:43past 5 years, the spiraling crisis of
10:46hunger in Afghanistan.
10:49Since we've arrived in Afghanistan,
10:51which was 10 days ago, it's taken us all
10:53of that time, lots of negotiations, to
10:56get this stack of permissions from
10:58different Taliban ministries and
11:00departments, uh to finally get
11:02permission to be here in the Ghor
11:04province to look at the humanitarian
11:06situation.
11:07And we're not there yet. Uh we still
11:10have at least two more Taliban offices
11:11to go to
11:12in the province. Uh we're waiting
11:14outside one right now. An official told
11:16us he would be here,
11:18uh but let's see if he is. Of course,
11:20when we do have all those permissions,
11:23uh it doesn't mean we don't have
11:24editorial independence to operate on the
11:26ground. We don't have a Taliban official
11:28accompanying us when we are doing our
11:31work on the ground, but it is a
11:34bureaucratic process to get the
11:36permissions to actually film, and we
11:38have to follow that.
11:40>> Is he aware that we are here?
11:45>> Eventually, after some waiting around,
11:47the official did arrive and sorted our
11:49permission slips.
11:50>> I'm Shakiba. I'm Shakiba. Shakiba.
11:53That's Shakiba.
11:59>> The next morning, we headed to Ghor
12:01Hospital, where we saw the morning rush.
12:04Hunger makes [music] children vulnerable
12:06to disease. The best hospitals in the
12:08world would struggle to manage this
12:10load. In Afghanistan, it's severely
12:12depleted medical facilities, like this
12:13one, which try every day to provide a
12:16feeble lifeline to those at risk.
12:18Newborn babies are most in danger.
12:21Underweight because their mothers didn't
12:23have enough to eat.
12:25While we were in the neonatal ward, twin
12:27babies were wheeled in, just born,
12:28[music] premature, and struggling to
12:30breathe.
12:32One of the baby girls died just hours
12:34after birth, before even being named.
12:41The baby turned blue and was shaking.
12:44The doctors tried to save her, but she
12:45died.
12:47"I hope this other one survives," she
12:49says.
12:51Days later, the family had to make the
12:54heartbreaking decision of taking the
12:56surviving twin out of hospital as well,
12:59because they simply couldn't afford her
13:01medicine.
13:03So, we've just finished a very difficult
13:05day of
13:06filming at the hospital.
13:09Um
13:12I mean, there's really just no
13:14facilities here.
13:15Uh and I think the most shocking bit of
13:17being here is being told by people in
13:19the hospital that they have to get
13:21patients to buy their own medicines
13:23because
13:24they can't provide any, and most of the
13:26people we met simply can't afford it. Uh
13:28but our day is not over yet. We are
13:32We've only got really 2 days on the
13:35ground
13:36after
13:37many many many many days of getting
13:39permissions. So, we want to make every
13:41minute count.
13:42So, now we're off to do a bit more
13:44filming in the community close by.
13:48>> In the communities nearby, we found more
13:50evidence of a silent wave of child
13:51deaths. We've consistently documented
13:53this. It's triggered by dramatic cuts in
13:56aid, the policies of the Taliban
13:58government, and natural disasters like
14:00severe drought.
14:02Emergency levels of hunger affect nearly
14:045 million people. That's more than a
14:06tenth of the population, which means
14:08they are just one step away from famine.
14:10This is the worst ever level recorded
14:13for this country.
14:16>> So, the last time that we were in Ghor
14:18province, there wasn't actually even
14:20even a basic hotel to stay at. So, we
14:21actually stayed at someone's home. They
14:23were kind enough to allow us in. This
14:24time there is a new-ish hotel that has
14:27come up, and so that's where we're
14:28staying. This is my room. This is where
14:30I'll be sleeping for a few nights.
14:32Uh electricity is a huge problem. We
14:34only have it for 3 hours in the evening
14:36after 7:00, and so we've got to come
14:39back real quick, put everything on
14:41charge, all our batteries, so that we
14:42can continue to operate. And it is still
14:44pretty cold here in the night, so we've
14:46got to carry our sleeping bags as well.
14:50>> Yeah, yeah, yeah.
14:51What do you think? Why is not coming?
14:53>> So, our car hasn't showed up today.
14:56Uh so, we've got to take a different
14:57ride. We're just trying to get some auto
14:59rickshaws going because we need to be
15:02somewhere really quick. So, we can't
15:04wait. We're going to this area where
15:06anybody who's a daily wage earner, they
15:09gather there in the morning, and
15:10contractors and other people come and
15:13they take them from there. But we have
15:14to be there at certain time, so can't
15:16afford to be late. So, we have now
15:18decided to hail two auto rickshaws. Our
15:22colleagues, our cameraman, and our our
15:25co-producer are in the one in front of
15:27us, and we're here.
15:30>> When we arrived at the gathering point,
15:31hundreds of men were already there.
15:34Our colleague, producer Mahfouz Zubaydi,
15:36helped us translate what they were
15:37saying as Sanjay Ganguly, our cameraman,
15:41was filming.
15:42Some had traveled for days to get there.
15:44Others had been coming for weeks with no
15:46[music] luck.
15:47"We're starving, and no one gives me
15:49work because I'm old," Khwaja Ahmad told
15:52us as he broke down.
15:54Soon a man offering work came by.
15:58>> So, this man on a motorcycle has come to
16:00find laborers. You can just see how many
16:03people are throwing themselves at him.
16:05The sheer desperation to find a day of
16:07work. In the past couple of hours, we've
16:09seen a couple of cars coming by.
16:12Lots of men throwing themselves at the
16:14car. The reality is that most of these
16:17people are going to walk away from here
16:19without having found work.
16:22>> As our time in Ghor came to an end, we
16:23headed back to the tiny airport
16:25terminal. In the background, we were
16:27still trying to secure a sit-down
16:29interview with the Taliban government.
16:32>> It's our super producer Imogen
16:33Anderson's birthday today. We started
16:35celebrating it in Ghor, but now we're
16:36waiting for a flight back to Kabul.
16:39>> Happy birthday.
16:40>> Thank [cheering] you.
16:41>> Happy birthday
16:43to you.
16:44>> After landing back in Kabul, we went out
16:46for a meal for Imogen's birthday, a rare
16:48outing for us in Afghanistan.
16:51>> [laughter]
16:53>> Over the next few days, we continued
16:54filming and editing our reports. Then
16:56finally, we got confirmation that the
16:58interview was happening.
17:02>> We've come to the Taliban government's
17:04media center. We've been promised an
17:06interview with their deputy spokesman.
17:08Uh and I hope that it'll happen soon
17:10now. There's lots of questions to ask
17:12him
17:13uh about the conflict with Pakistan, uh
17:16about women's education, a fifth year,
17:19fifth academic year that has begun
17:21without schools reopening for girls.
17:23About the humanitarian situation in the
17:25country,
17:27the issues that aid agencies are having
17:29operating on the ground.
17:31So, I hope he sits through all of that
17:33and answers the questions.
17:36I remember sitting downstairs in this
17:38place when the Republic was
17:40in power and I remember they used to
17:43also hold their press conferences here.
17:45It's a different government now, but
17:48more or less the same setting.
17:50We can't be pictured in the same frame
17:52and he also won't sit across from me.
17:55So, the way we'll be sitting is he'll be
17:56sitting there, our translator will be
17:58sitting here, I will be sitting here,
18:01but
18:03there is editorial independence to ask
18:05the questions that are needed and so
18:07this crosses the bar for an interview
18:09that we would do.
18:11Before the interview, I changed my scarf
18:12to a red one because our cameraman said
18:14it would look better on camera.
18:18Hamdullah Fitrat is the Taliban
18:19government's deputy spokesman. It would
18:21be rare for an Afghan female journalist
18:24to be given this opportunity.
18:27It's now been more than 4 and 1/2 years
18:29you've been in government. How can you
18:31continue to justify this ban on
18:33education on girls and women?
18:37>> Regarding the ban on education, our
18:39figures show that around 7 million boys
18:41and 5 million girls are currently
18:43studying. The restriction on education
18:46beyond grade six is a separate issue.
18:48When secondary and higher education for
18:50girls will be opened is a question for
18:52the Ministry of Education and hopefully
18:54they will provide a satisfactory
18:56response.
18:58>> For nearly 5 years now, we've been
19:00speaking to women and girls in your
19:01country. At the very beginning, they
19:03used to tell us maybe it'll open in a
19:05few years. Now, they tell us they do not
19:07believe that their education will be
19:09reopened under your watch. Is that true?
19:12Do you recognize that a whole generation
19:14of women, their lives, their dreams,
19:17they're already over?
19:19>> The Islamic Emirate is committed [music]
19:21to granting women their rights according
19:23to Islamic law.
19:27>> Over the years, we have challenged the
19:29Taliban on this issue multiple times.
19:33Your government, your leaders have said
19:35that women should not return to work
19:36right now because of the security
19:38situation. You've said the same thing
19:40about girls going to secondary schools.
19:42So, it's not true that you have allowed
19:44them and they are not going.
19:51Classes were always segregated for boys
19:53and girls even before the 15th of
19:55August. So, what problem is there in
19:57opening the schools?
20:00>> Our religious scholars have issues with
20:02the safety of girls traveling to and
20:05from schools.
20:06>> Is your government willing to take
20:07responsibility for your share of what
20:09you should be doing to further expand
20:12the aid that is coming to your country?
20:14>> It's been 3 years now since girls were
20:16locked out of schools, but it hasn't
20:17happened on the ground. Do you really
20:19expect people to believe that you are
20:20committed to actually doing it?
20:23>> We are awaiting the decision of our
20:25leadership.
20:27>> Their answers keep changing, but there
20:28is no shift in policy.
20:33After 4 weeks in Afghanistan, we
20:35reported on multiple stories and covered
20:37them across BBC News. But, throughout it
20:40all, it was hard not to be constantly
20:42reminded of the exclusion of women from
20:44society, which is visible everywhere.
20:49>> We're waiting in a restaurant which
20:51overlooks
20:52an amusement park in the city. It's got
20:54Ferris wheels and a merry-go-round and a
20:57few other fun rides.
20:59Because we're women, we can't actually
21:01go into those parks.
21:02That was banned about 3 and 1/2 years
21:05ago, late 2022, if I remember correctly.
21:08Uh and so what we're seeing right now
21:10are basically families who've come here
21:12together.
21:14And then the dad or the men in the
21:16groups, they basically take the children
21:17and go down. And the women are only able
21:20to sit here, have a cup of tea, and look
21:22at them. Now, this is a really small
21:24joy. It's a really simple joy in
21:25people's lives where, you know, it's a
21:27holiday and they've come here to have a
21:29little bit of fun. But even that little
21:31bit of fun, uh Afghan women are denied
21:34that.
21:36>> During their five years in power, we've
21:37seen the Taliban systematically [music]
21:40silence Afghan women. And the countries
21:42that once promised to stand by women and
21:44girls are increasingly, quietly looking
21:47away.

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