Backing up the Taliban to power, Afghan journalists talk about life there and hospitality in Kosovo

On the two-year anniversary of regaining power in Afghanistan by Taliban, Rafiullah and Nadia confess to the hard life there as well as hospitality in Kosovo.

Rafiullah has worked as a culture and policy journalist in “Horsed TV”. In an interview for Telegrafie, he indicates that he has not trained the profession for two years now.

I worked a long time as a journalist in Afghanistan. I did interviews, I wrote news, several reports. My work has been focused on news on current culture, politics and developments in the country. It's been two years now that I don't practice this profession. Everything became very difficult after the invasion of Afghanistan by Taliban”, he says, while adding that 99 percent of journalists have interrupted all their activity and forcibly left Afghanistan.

Rafiullah also shows why he left Afghanistan and the route he had taken to take refuge in Kosovo.

The reason I left is that any information we wanted to publish was censorshiped by the Taliban. We had no freedom, and we had no right to write about the events that occurred. Everything was controlled by Taliban. After the Taliban invaded the country, I went to Pakistan with great difficulty on April 22, 2022, and after nine months of stay, I applied for refuge in some European country. I've been very fortunate that EPCPMF in co-operation with AGK has brought the programme for support of journalists, and after much travel difficulties I have managed to come to Kosovo”.

He says that since he arrived in Kosovo, he has been surprised by the hospitality he and other colleagues have received.

“The AGK in collaboration with EPCPMF has made it possible that we at least work on our profession. Since we've arrived, we've become part of Albanian and English courses, which is helping us to live with life in Kosovo. In the meantime, we also work online with television sets in Europe. So we report on events in Afghanistan, which are broadcast to European countries”, says Afghan journalist.

Happy to be in Kosovo and surprised with hospitality here is journalist Nadia Gulabzada.

“We are very pleased with the expectation that has been made to us in Kosovo by both state and other persons. The fact that we have problems with the Albanian language has not been possible for us to have more companionship or to have deeper conversations with neighbors and other people, but they are very kind and we are surprised by this”, she says.

Nadia has worked as a journalist for years at “TV parliament”, television in Afghanistan that conveys developments from the Parliament.

She also remembers the day the Taliban invaded Kabul.

The moment when the Taliban had already begun occupying more remote areas, so before they reached the center, we knew what awaited us because all they preached was that women shouldn't work, they shouldn't even be educated on television. The day they came to the center, in Kabul, I was in the office. That day is not easy to forget. It's been a terrifying situation. Women in particular who were employees on television knew what they were going to go through. We've quickly left the offices trying to reach our homes”.

Nadia expresses concern for her family in Afghanistan, while she says that she has the greatest fear for her sister. As it shows, the Taliban are firmly marrying the young Afghan girls, and that is what fears her sister will be.

Unfortunately, my whole family is there and the life they're living is very difficult. Girls under 20 years of age are not allowed to go out on the street without being accompanied by a member of the opposite sex. If they leave, they'll just get them and lock them up. Another very bad thing going on is that Taliban are marrying young Afghan girls with violence. I have a young sister, and we're afraid the whole family will get her”.

I have communication with the family there, but very rarely after trying not to put them at risk. Even during the work I do here as a journalist I try to be very careful because they have all the information about people who have left Afghanistan and follow us constantly if we're doing something contrary to their rules and laws. If I do something, my family is at risk”, the Afghan journalist says.

On December 28th 2022, the Kosovo government has approved the 30,000-euro budget for the protection of Afghan journalists. Five journalists from Afghanistan have been sheltered in Kosovo under the “Gasers programme in Kosovo” and they will be able to stay in state for two years.

The selection of journalists sheltering in Kosovo was made by the European Federation of Journalists and the European Centre for Press and Media Freedoms, in co-operation with the Government of Kosovo.

Since the Taliban have regained power in August 2021, Kosovo has accepted the United States' request to accommodate Afghan refugees who were endangered by Taliban. Kosovo has temporarily sheltered about two thousand Afghan refugees.