:00:00. > :00:41.Maximum security in downtown Kabul. But this isn't an army base or
:00:42. > :00:45.foreign embassy. I've come to the headquarters of Tolo TV.
:00:46. > :00:50.Afghanistan's most popular broadcaster. These defensive
:00:51. > :01:02.measures might seem extreme, but they are necessary. How you? Tolo TV
:01:03. > :01:16.has been and remains a target of terrorist violence.
:01:17. > :01:18.How can an independent TV station function amidst death threats and
:01:19. > :01:36.bombs? This is the Tolo TV news meeting. In
:01:37. > :01:45.the hot seat of one of the most dangerous journalistic beats in the
:01:46. > :01:47.world is this man. His 29 years old, and there is a lot of responsibility
:01:48. > :02:01.on the shoulders. And this is Shakila Ebrahimkhil, one
:02:02. > :02:06.of his most experienced correspondents. She is a widow. Her
:02:07. > :02:08.husband was killed by the Taliban. She is raising their three children
:02:09. > :02:29.alone. Shakila Ebrahimkhil made a name for
:02:30. > :02:33.herself for covering dozens of suicide bombings over the years.
:02:34. > :02:37.Speaking to families of the dead and interviewing wounded survivors is
:02:38. > :02:38.harrowing. But she has received death threats from Islamist
:02:39. > :03:31.militants for her work. Shakila Ebrahimkhil is off on
:03:32. > :03:33.another assignment. The independent Afghan women's Association are
:03:34. > :04:11.funding schools in poor neighbourhoods.
:04:12. > :04:17.We're not yet back in Kabul, and she is already trying to set up another
:04:18. > :04:23.story about political violence and corruption.
:04:24. > :04:34.In the foothills above Kabul, stands the Intercontinental Hotel. Today it
:04:35. > :04:37.is being guided by a squad of commandos acres inside something
:04:38. > :04:48.very special is taking place. -- because.
:04:49. > :04:53.CHEERING Tolo TV don't just to news. They
:04:54. > :05:01.also run the country's most popular entertainment programmes. Their top
:05:02. > :05:07.rating show is Afghan Star. It has been condemned by the Taliban for
:05:08. > :05:13.the rootless and in relative. -- lewdness and in relative. They might
:05:14. > :05:22.well have been thinking about this one.
:05:23. > :05:26.CHEERING Aryana Sayeed, one of the judges on
:05:27. > :05:32.Afghan Star, and a celebrity in her own right. She reads in London, had
:05:33. > :05:40.moved to Kabul for six months to record the show -- lives. I have a
:05:41. > :05:48.lot of fans in Afghanistan. They like to see me on their TV screens
:05:49. > :05:52.on a regular basis, and since I cannot have a concert for them
:05:53. > :05:56.because of the security reasons, I thought it is a good opportunity to
:05:57. > :06:04.do something for them through this show, and tried to bring a smile on
:06:05. > :06:13.their faces. But on January 20 this year, halfway through filming Afghan
:06:14. > :06:18.Star, Tolo TV became the story. Early that evening, the minibus left
:06:19. > :06:25.the main Tolo TV compound to drive staff home to the distant Kabul
:06:26. > :07:12.suburbs. On-board was this news cameramen.
:07:13. > :07:17.The minibus, which had made a detour to pick up even more staff from the
:07:18. > :07:23.Afghan Star said, was being trailed by a telephone death squad -- set.
:07:24. > :07:40.-- Taliban death squad. Suddenly a suicide bomber rammed the
:07:41. > :08:05.minibus, detonating a car of exposes. -- carload of explosives.
:08:06. > :08:11.We were actually on the set of Afghan Star and had just finished a
:08:12. > :08:16.show. We heard the blast. It was so loud and so scary that we actually
:08:17. > :08:22.thought it was happening right outside our gate probably. We
:08:23. > :08:28.thought the Taliban are here and they would come in and attack us.
:08:29. > :08:29.News of the bombing reached the Tolo TV headquarters, and they dutifully
:08:30. > :08:47.reported it. At the time, nobody at Tolo TV
:08:48. > :08:50.realised it was their own friends and colleagues that had been
:08:51. > :08:56.attacked. Then the awful truth started to emerge. It was 515 in the
:08:57. > :09:04.afternoon. I was in my office upstairs in a meeting. Our head of
:09:05. > :09:11.news walked in and he said that there was a car bomb in the western
:09:12. > :09:21.part of the city, and he said that it was asked. They took this out
:09:22. > :09:25.through the emergency door, and when will going back to the hotel, on the
:09:26. > :09:32.way, they told us the attack was on one of the Tolo TV cars, and 70
:09:33. > :09:41.people have been hurt -- so many people. I started crying. We didn't
:09:42. > :09:47.know who was dead. We didn't know who was injured. Back at the bomb
:09:48. > :10:29.site, it was a coyote thing. -- chaotic scene.
:10:30. > :10:40.Then we went to the hospital nearby, where our colleagues were taken. It
:10:41. > :10:45.was the first time I could see something like that. Some of the
:10:46. > :10:51.bodies were unrecognisable. They were beyond recognition. Some of our
:10:52. > :10:59.wounded colleagues were in a terrible situation. I saw a kid in
:11:00. > :11:04.one bed he was just a bypass and he was wounded and was crying. I
:11:05. > :11:12.couldn't hold myself a stop I had to rush back outside. Seven Tolo TV
:11:13. > :11:18.staff work or that night and almost 20 more were seriously injured.
:11:19. > :11:24.Among the dead was a 22-year-old graphic artist. A close friend and
:11:25. > :11:35.colleague of the TV news boss. That day I met with her, the graphic
:11:36. > :11:43.artist, who was a very vibrant soul. She was wearing black. She passed
:11:44. > :11:51.and said hello to me and I told her how beautiful she was that day. She
:11:52. > :11:57.smiled, something which was part of her character, and a few hours later
:11:58. > :12:01.we realised she was no longer part of us. She was going to be promoted
:12:02. > :12:05.to head of the graphics department very soon. I will be one of the
:12:06. > :12:12.first female employees who would be promoted to a bigger level. So it is
:12:13. > :12:20.a must for us and for her family and to Afghanistan. -- loss.
:12:21. > :12:25.Shakila Ebrahimkhil takes me to meet some of her colleagues. In the
:12:26. > :13:55.graphics department is a makeshift shrine.
:13:56. > :14:15.But why did the Taliban attack Tolo TV? September last year at the
:14:16. > :14:31.insurgents overran the northern city of Kunduz. During the fighting, Tolo
:14:32. > :14:39.TV reported that Taliban fighters had raped women in hostels at the
:14:40. > :14:45.local university. This story turned out to be wrong. Amnesty
:14:46. > :14:49.International documented allegations that Taliban fighters had raped
:14:50. > :14:54.women in Kunduz but not at the University because it was shot. The
:14:55. > :15:00.channel's bosses say they clarified this in a later report but it didn't
:15:01. > :15:09.help. The Taliban issued a furious official threat, describing Tolo TV
:15:10. > :15:12.with a satanic network that was now a legitimate target. This was
:15:13. > :15:18.actually the fourth time that militants had threatened the network
:15:19. > :15:24.for its programming. At the Taliban targeting us was always a question
:15:25. > :15:31.of time. We represent civil society, we represent women's rights, we
:15:32. > :15:36.represent a more moderate version of Islam. We are believers in
:15:37. > :15:41.democracy. Freedom of expression, all the things that Taliban don't
:15:42. > :15:56.like. So I am not sure for how long we could have kept them at bay but
:15:57. > :15:59.it was always inevitable. This Tolo TV footage shows airing on a singing
:16:00. > :16:09.in the national football stadium in Kabul last year -- Ariana. She
:16:10. > :16:11.received threats for this performance and end-user security
:16:12. > :16:21.concerns, such an event might never be sanctioned today. For Ariana,
:16:22. > :16:26.everything changed after the attack on her colleagues. In this footage,
:16:27. > :16:31.her manager filmed her in their hotel trying on a bulletproof vest.
:16:32. > :16:39.They actually have given this to me to where when I'm going around in
:16:40. > :16:50.Kabul and when I am going to the set to record. How funny is this? Being
:16:51. > :16:57.a singer in Afghanistan, I feel like I'm going to war actually. This is
:16:58. > :17:11.ridiculous and it's kind of heavy as well. But yeah, what to do? How do I
:17:12. > :17:15.look, by the way? I was a target. A direct target, you would say.
:17:16. > :17:21.They're going to attack Ariana, they're going to kill her and stuff
:17:22. > :17:24.like that. I do get scared. But you know what, I feel like this is the
:17:25. > :17:31.path that I've chosen and I don't want to just leave it halfway I have
:17:32. > :17:38.to finish it somehow. The day after the finale of Afghan Star, Ariana's
:17:39. > :17:42.work here was over and she flew out of Afghanistan. This is an option
:17:43. > :17:52.that is not available to most people there. But the news never stops.
:17:53. > :18:08.Back at the Tolo TV canteen, Cecchinato is busy setting up a
:18:09. > :18:20.story about the Afghan new year. She has got access to the couple trauma
:18:21. > :18:30.hospital. She is famous for covering the aftermath of terrorist attacks
:18:31. > :18:37.and the medics here know her well. If there is a big blast in the city
:18:38. > :18:41.and casualties come in from the provinces, they come here and she
:18:42. > :18:45.follows all the stories most of the time when there is a big blast. The
:18:46. > :18:56.press come here but she is the first one. Just in Kabul in 2015, we have
:18:57. > :18:59.seen 3200 people. Wow. It is the worst number we have ever faced in
:19:00. > :19:02.the history of emergencies in Afghanistan. And we're talking about
:19:03. > :19:05.16 years after the international forces coming here. So when
:19:06. > :19:15.Afghanistan was supposed to be at peace. But the situation is still so
:19:16. > :19:30.bad. Shakila has taken me to the ward where the most critically
:19:31. > :19:36.wounded bomb victims are treated. She has come here to record their
:19:37. > :20:04.New Year's messages to the military. Oh, it is awful. This
:20:05. > :20:11.little boys in grades four and he has just had a major operation. It
:20:12. > :20:17.was a suicide bombing of some sort in the centre of Kabul and he has
:20:18. > :20:18.lost his leg. He is in utter pain. To grief in this room is
:20:19. > :22:15.unbelievable. -- the. In mid April, the Taliban detonated
:22:16. > :22:21.a huge bomb in central Kabul, killing more than 60 people and
:22:22. > :22:23.wounding hundreds. The next day, the Taliban renewed their threats
:22:24. > :22:29.against all media outlets in Afghanistan. It is a chilling
:22:30. > :22:30.reminder of the dangers journalists in this country face every single
:22:31. > :22:35.day.