Journalist who recounted terror after Taliban seizure left Afghanistan

Clarissa Ward is a reporter for the North American network CNN. Her face was hedge emblem of the crisis unleashed in Afghanistan after the Taliban came to power.

In the first person he told the desperate struggle of thousands to leave Kabul. After days of tension, she’s the one managed to escape this Friday aboard an American military plane.

“On our flight and get ready for take off”Ward wrote on his Twitter account, along with a photo of hundreds of people inside the plane. Some managed to sit down and others directly they waited standing, as if they were traveling on a bus.

With his works, Ward has sought to connect the tension that exists in Afghanistan with the return to power of the Taliban. He collected testimonies and showed the fear of many citizens of possible reprisals. During one of these blankets he was intimidated by armed soldiers.

Through his Twitter account, Ward recounted the fate of those who tried to escape the internal chaos of the country and the militarized and chaotic airport to take refuge anywhere.

The CNN correspondent showed, for example, how he was harassed by Taliban as she went out live interview Afghan citizens.

After these remarkable shows, Ward slept, waited, prayed and worried like another local at the airport waiting for a safe departure. He did it while sleeping on the cobblestones, cold, hoping he had a destination and that the US military plane, the C17, could take off.

“The soldiers on the tarmac at Kabul airport tell me that there are 10,000 people here being treated and ready to go … but nowhere to take them because Qatar refuses to accept more Afghans because that they have reached their capacity. This is appalling … someone he needs to step up, “the reporter wrote.

Also via social networks, Lolwah Alkhater, spokesperson for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, replied: “I can only speak of the Qatar evacuation missions, they will continue!” In the past 72 hours, we have evacuated over 300 students, mostly women, and over 200 media personnel; many of them with their families and children who are now safe in comfortable accommodation in Doha ”.

Meanwhile, the CNN correspondent continued to count. “The Afghan evacuees try to sleep on the gravel with the C17 in the background. It’s a cold and incredibly loud night, especially after 2pm. An Afghan acquaintance tells me that “it is an insult to human dignity … I don’t know why the Americans are doing this”.

“The fourth bird (military plane) on which we were to climb has just been removed. It’s going to be a long night here, especially for those we are talking to who have been here since last night. A woman just asked me for a blanket, so I gave her my scarf, ”Ward said on Friday, waiting for what seemed impossible: get on the plane and escape the terror.

“Ready to take off,” was the tweet posted a few hours later, around 7:00 p.m. in Argentina, when she confirmed her place on the flight that would finally take her out of Afghanistan.

LM