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Updated September 20th, 2021 at 16:49 IST

'America did nothing to help': US hindered flight of Afghan scribes, claims CPJ chief

US had a weak role in the evacuation process as most of Hamid Karzai International Airport in Afghanistan was sealed off by Taliban with several new checkpoints

Reported by: Zaini Majeed
Afghanistan
Image: AP | Image:self
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As the Taliban took control of Kabul and US military’s airlift operations were underway, a frantic group from the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), whose photographer Morteza Samadi has been in Taliban’s custody for covering protests in the western city of Herat since September 7, shot several email pleas to the US Dept of State with the hope of being evacuated. CPJ, a top global media group, asked the Biden administration to facilitate the safe passage for its journalists with emergency visas as fears of the Taliban reprisal against hundreds of journalists and media workers intensified. 

“We continue to urge the United States to ensure the safety of the Afghan media by facilitating safe passage out of the country and providing emergency visas,” the committee had written in a statement on August 27, adding that it was “working to support the evacuations of Afghan and other journalists and was coordinating with partners and governments to do so.”

In mid-August, CPJ also secured a grant from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and hired consultants to start registering the journalists and making requests to the United States to fly out its regional staff and global correspondents out of the hostile Taliban environment. 

'America would do nothing to help': CPJ chief

After Chairman of the CPJ Joel Simon, held a Zoom meeting with the US Under-Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights, Uzra Zeya, he was convinced "America would do nothing to help them,” he told a US-based outlet. “We didn’t see any policies,” the CPJ chairman went on to add, stressing that the US had a weak role in the evacuation process as most of the Hamid Karzai International Airport was sealed off by the Taliban. New checkpoints were made by Islamist hardliners that blocked all routes to the airport, almost completely sealing off the site.  

The CPJ chief stated that the powerful media organisations from the West were able to leverage their connections and use their own resources to get out of Kabul. But many who witnessed US evacuation efforts would agree that US State department and government channels were not only unnecessary but  “hindrance at its worst,” according to Simon. The group abandoned hope for support from the US and contacted the deputy director of the Qatari government’s communications office, Sheikh Thamer bin Hamad Al Thani. CPJ handed a list to Qatar for journalists most at risk. A convoy was later assembled in a safe place near Kabul airport. 

On August 23, the Qatari ambassador to Afghanistan escorted nearly 16 journalists to the airport, who were later flown to Doha, CPJ stated. Many journalists on the list were left behind. The charter bound for ultimate destination Mexico was paid for by the Facebook Journalism Project, CPJ confirmed to a US-based outlet that verified emails and spoke to a Facebook official, who informed that Facebook sought approvals from the airline operating the flight, Kam Air, as well as UAE. 

High-ranking Afghan female cop abandoned by US 

A high-profile female Afghan cop Gulafroz Ebtekar, promoted through the ranks to become deputy chief of criminal investigations, claimed that she was “brutally assaulted by Taliban thugs" and somehow made it to the refugee camp where the Americans were stationed. The 34-year-old told Russian newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets that fearing that the Taliban would shoot her, she attempted to board a US military plane but was rejected at the airport. 

(Image: Facebook/Gulafroz Ebtekar)

"They [American troops] checked our documents. I had my ID, passport, and police certificates with me,” she continued. “We were asked: ‘Where do you want to go?’ I replied: ‘It doesn’t matter, to a safe country. They looked at me and answered quite impudently, ‘OK’” the female cop explained, adding that a US soldier was asked to show her the way. “I thought they would escort us to a plane or provide security,” Ebtekar recalled. But she said that the American troop escorted her to a crowded street and ordered her at gunpoint to leave. “At that moment, I didn’t want to live anymore,” the latter told the newspaper. 

Image: Facebook/Gulafroz Ebtekar

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Published September 20th, 2021 at 16:49 IST

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