Terror at the TV Station Our World


Terror at the TV Station

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Maximum security in downtown Kabul. But this isn't an army base or

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foreign embassy. I've come to the headquarters of Tolo TV.

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Afghanistan's most popular broadcaster. These defensive

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measures might seem extreme, but they are necessary. How you? Tolo TV

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has been and remains a target of terrorist violence.

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How can an independent TV station function amidst death threats and

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bombs? This is the Tolo TV news meeting. In

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the hot seat of one of the most dangerous journalistic beats in the

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world is this man. His 29 years old, and there is a lot of responsibility

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on the shoulders. And this is Shakila Ebrahimkhil, one

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of his most experienced correspondents. She is a widow. Her

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husband was killed by the Taliban. She is raising their three children

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alone. Shakila Ebrahimkhil made a name for

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herself for covering dozens of suicide bombings over the years.

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Speaking to families of the dead and interviewing wounded survivors is

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harrowing. But she has received death threats from Islamist

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militants for her work. Shakila Ebrahimkhil is off on

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another assignment. The independent Afghan women's Association are

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funding schools in poor neighbourhoods.

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We're not yet back in Kabul, and she is already trying to set up another

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story about political violence and corruption.

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In the foothills above Kabul, stands the Intercontinental Hotel. Today it

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is being guided by a squad of commandos acres inside something

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very special is taking place. -- because.

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CHEERING Tolo TV don't just to news. They

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also run the country's most popular entertainment programmes. Their top

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rating show is Afghan Star. It has been condemned by the Taliban for

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the rootless and in relative. -- lewdness and in relative. They might

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well have been thinking about this one.

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CHEERING Aryana Sayeed, one of the judges on

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Afghan Star, and a celebrity in her own right. She reads in London, had

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moved to Kabul for six months to record the show -- lives. I have a

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lot of fans in Afghanistan. They like to see me on their TV screens

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on a regular basis, and since I cannot have a concert for them

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because of the security reasons, I thought it is a good opportunity to

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do something for them through this show, and tried to bring a smile on

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their faces. But on January 20 this year, halfway through filming Afghan

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Star, Tolo TV became the story. Early that evening, the minibus left

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the main Tolo TV compound to drive staff home to the distant Kabul

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suburbs. On-board was this news cameramen.

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The minibus, which had made a detour to pick up even more staff from the

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Afghan Star said, was being trailed by a telephone death squad -- set.

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-- Taliban death squad. Suddenly a suicide bomber rammed the

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minibus, detonating a car of exposes. -- carload of explosives.

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We were actually on the set of Afghan Star and had just finished a

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show. We heard the blast. It was so loud and so scary that we actually

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thought it was happening right outside our gate probably. We

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thought the Taliban are here and they would come in and attack us.

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News of the bombing reached the Tolo TV headquarters, and they dutifully

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reported it. At the time, nobody at Tolo TV

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realised it was their own friends and colleagues that had been

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attacked. Then the awful truth started to emerge. It was 515 in the

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afternoon. I was in my office upstairs in a meeting. Our head of

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news walked in and he said that there was a car bomb in the western

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part of the city, and he said that it was asked. They took this out

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through the emergency door, and when will going back to the hotel, on the

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way, they told us the attack was on one of the Tolo TV cars, and 70

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people have been hurt -- so many people. I started crying. We didn't

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know who was dead. We didn't know who was injured. Back at the bomb

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site, it was a coyote thing. -- chaotic scene.

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Then we went to the hospital nearby, where our colleagues were taken. It

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was the first time I could see something like that. Some of the

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bodies were unrecognisable. They were beyond recognition. Some of our

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wounded colleagues were in a terrible situation. I saw a kid in

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one bed he was just a bypass and he was wounded and was crying. I

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couldn't hold myself a stop I had to rush back outside. Seven Tolo TV

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staff work or that night and almost 20 more were seriously injured.

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Among the dead was a 22-year-old graphic artist. A close friend and

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colleague of the TV news boss. That day I met with her, the graphic

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artist, who was a very vibrant soul. She was wearing black. She passed

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and said hello to me and I told her how beautiful she was that day. She

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smiled, something which was part of her character, and a few hours later

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we realised she was no longer part of us. She was going to be promoted

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to head of the graphics department very soon. I will be one of the

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first female employees who would be promoted to a bigger level. So it is

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a must for us and for her family and to Afghanistan. -- loss.

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Shakila Ebrahimkhil takes me to meet some of her colleagues. In the

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graphics department is a makeshift shrine.

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But why did the Taliban attack Tolo TV? September last year at the

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insurgents overran the northern city of Kunduz. During the fighting, Tolo

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TV reported that Taliban fighters had raped women in hostels at the

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local university. This story turned out to be wrong. Amnesty

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International documented allegations that Taliban fighters had raped

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women in Kunduz but not at the University because it was shot. The

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channel's bosses say they clarified this in a later report but it didn't

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help. The Taliban issued a furious official threat, describing Tolo TV

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with a satanic network that was now a legitimate target. This was

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actually the fourth time that militants had threatened the network

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for its programming. At the Taliban targeting us was always a question

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of time. We represent civil society, we represent women's rights, we

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represent a more moderate version of Islam. We are believers in

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democracy. Freedom of expression, all the things that Taliban don't

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like. So I am not sure for how long we could have kept them at bay but

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it was always inevitable. This Tolo TV footage shows airing on a singing

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in the national football stadium in Kabul last year -- Ariana. She

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received threats for this performance and end-user security

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concerns, such an event might never be sanctioned today. For Ariana,

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everything changed after the attack on her colleagues. In this footage,

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her manager filmed her in their hotel trying on a bulletproof vest.

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They actually have given this to me to where when I'm going around in

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Kabul and when I am going to the set to record. How funny is this? Being

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a singer in Afghanistan, I feel like I'm going to war actually. This is

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ridiculous and it's kind of heavy as well. But yeah, what to do? How do I

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look, by the way? I was a target. A direct target, you would say.

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They're going to attack Ariana, they're going to kill her and stuff

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like that. I do get scared. But you know what, I feel like this is the

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path that I've chosen and I don't want to just leave it halfway I have

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to finish it somehow. The day after the finale of Afghan Star, Ariana's

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work here was over and she flew out of Afghanistan. This is an option

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that is not available to most people there. But the news never stops.

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Back at the Tolo TV canteen, Cecchinato is busy setting up a

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story about the Afghan new year. She has got access to the couple trauma

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hospital. She is famous for covering the aftermath of terrorist attacks

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and the medics here know her well. If there is a big blast in the city

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and casualties come in from the provinces, they come here and she

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follows all the stories most of the time when there is a big blast. The

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press come here but she is the first one. Just in Kabul in 2015, we have

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seen 3200 people. Wow. It is the worst number we have ever faced in

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the history of emergencies in Afghanistan. And we're talking about

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16 years after the international forces coming here. So when

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Afghanistan was supposed to be at peace. But the situation is still so

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bad. Shakila has taken me to the ward where the most critically

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wounded bomb victims are treated. She has come here to record their

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New Year's messages to the military. Oh, it is awful. This

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little boys in grades four and he has just had a major operation. It

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was a suicide bombing of some sort in the centre of Kabul and he has

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lost his leg. He is in utter pain. To grief in this room is

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unbelievable. -- the. In mid April, the Taliban detonated

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a huge bomb in central Kabul, killing more than 60 people and

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wounding hundreds. The next day, the Taliban renewed their threats

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against all media outlets in Afghanistan. It is a chilling

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reminder of the dangers journalists in this country face every single

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day.

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