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Female journalist Behesta Arghand who made history by interviewing Taliban leader flees Afghanistan
Behesta Arghand added another feather to her cap by interviewing Malala Yousafzai, the activist who survived a Taliban assassination attempt. Arghand said she will return to her home country if the situation becomes better.
An Afghan female journalist, who made headlines by interviewing a member of the Taliban, has left the country. Behesta Arghand worked for Tolo News.
‘Don’t be scared’: Afghan TV anchor relays Taliban message surrounded by armed fighters
Her big break came when Arghand interviewed a senior Taliban member on August 17, days after the insurgent group seized power. She asked the leader questions about door-to-door searches in capital Kabul and the group's plans for the future. The interview was historic, considering she was the first female journalist to interview a Taliban leader on Afghan news network.
The images from the interview quickly gained traction on social media and 24-year-old Arghand became a star. Such an interview was impossible more than two decades ago when the Taliban was in power in Afghanistan.
But now, Arghand had to flee her home country because of the "fear of Taliban". Arghand told CNN that she worked at Tolo News for "one month and 20 days, then the Taliban came".
Arghand hopes to return to her home country if the Taliban do what they have promised and the situation becomes better.
Saad Mohseni, the chief executive of Moby Group, which owns Tolo News, said hailed the interview vowing not to stop its important work. But now, he is facing the problem of mass exodus of journalists.
"Almost all our well known reporters and journalists have left. We have been working like crazy to replace them with new people," he told CNN.
Arghand, meanwhile, added another feather to her cap by interviewing Malala Yousafzai, the activist who survived a Taliban assassination attempt. Tolo News said this was the first time Yousafzai had ever been interviewed on Afghan television.
The Taliban launched the offensive to capture Afghanistan int he wake of the withdrawal of US forces from the country, and accomplished the mission in a few weeks by ousting the civilian government led by President Ashraf Ghani. Since then, massive evacuation missions have been launched by countries across the world to take their citizen's out of the war-torn country. Countless Afghans too have crowded Kabul airport to find a flight out, and scores have died in desperation.
