Afghan female journalist who interviewed Taliban spokesman flees country
Beheshta Arghand's 17 August interview with the Taliban spokesman was "the first time in Afghanistan's history that a Taliban representative appeared live in a TV studio sitting across from a female presenter
Beheshta Arghand, a female Afghan anchor at TOLO (an Afghan news network), fled the country just days after an interview with a senior Taliban leader after they took control of Afghanistan.
Two weeks later, she has fled the country amid fears for her life, CNN reported on Monday.
Arghand's 17 August interview with the Taliban spokesman was "the first time in Afghanistan's history that a Taliban representative appeared live in a TV studio sitting across from a female presenter.
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After the interview that garnered headlines around the world, she interviewed Malala Yousafzai, the activist who survived a Taliban assassination attempt.
Two days after interviewing Yousafzai, Arghand reached out to the activist for help. On Tuesday, she boarded a Qatari Air Force evacuation flight along with several family members.
She said she hopes to return: "If the Taliban do what they said -- what they promised -- and the situation becomes better, and I know I am safe and there is no threat for me, I will go back to my country and I will work for my country. For my people."
Arghand corresponded with CNN Business via WhatsApp and recounted the experience of the past two weeks.
She said, "I left the country because, like millions of people, I fear the Taliban."
Saad Mohseni, the owner of TOLO, said Arghand's case is emblematic of the situation in Afghanistan.
"Almost all our well-known reporters and journalists have left," Mohseni said on CNN's Reliable Sources Sunday. "We have been working like crazy to replace them with new people."
"We have the twin challenge of getting people out [because they feel unsafe] and keeping the operation going," he added.
The 24 years old journalist decided to become a journalist in ninth grade after one of her teachers let her come to the front of the room and read the news "like I was the anchor on TV.
Arghand studied journalism at Kabul University for four years. She worked at several news agencies and radio stations for short periods of time, then joined TOLONews as a presenter earlier this year.
