“Those who are listening to me, if the world is listening to me, please help us, because our life is in danger,” journalist Shabnam Davran said in the video, wearing a veil and showing her professional map of the company she works for.
Upon coming to power on Sunday after a quick ten-day military campaign, the Taliban said they would respect women’s rights, that they would be allowed to study and work, and that the media would be independent and free.
One Taliban spokesman even added action to the words by accepting a personal interview with the journalist.
But Shabnam Davran, who worked for six years on public television RTA, said she was not allowed to go to work this week, unlike her male counterparts.
“I did not give up after changing the system and went to my office, but, unfortunately, they didn’t let me in, although I showed my company card,” he continued in the video.
“Male employees with company cards were allowed to enter the office, but they told me that I could not continue to carry out my duties because the system had changed,” he added.
The international community and many Afghans remain extremely skeptical of the Taliban’s pledges of moderation.
Afghans, especially women and religious minorities, are well aware of the brutal fundamentalist regime established by the Taliban when they were in power between 1996 and 2001.
People sharing the video include Miraka Popal, editor of the Afghan news station Tolo News.
“The Taliban did not allow my former colleague (…) Shabnam Davran to go to work today,” he wrote in a social media post on Wednesday that Twitter shared thousands of times.
The day before, Popal posted a photo of the Tolo News presenter on his Twitter account with the caption: “Today we have resumed our broadcasts with the presenters.”
