Taliban Demand Woman BBC Correspondent Leave Afghanistan

Taliban Annihilate 5th Century Buddhist Statues

Taliban officials announced today their complete destruction of two ancient giant Buddhist statues. Following the announcement, Taliban officials ordered “the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) to remove its correspondent Kate Clark from the country within 24 hours”. Kate Clark has served as a BBC reporter in Afghanistan since 1998 and she is the only international news agency correspondent based in Afghanistan’s capitol city of Kabul. Through her on-the-ground reports from Kabul, the world heard accounts ranging from the Taliban's closing of the United Nations “widow-bakeries”, the Taliban’s outlaw of music, dancing, cinema, art and television to the devastating impact of the drought on the entire Afghan civilian population.

Although it was earlier reported that the BBC office in Kabul was ordered by the Taliban to close its doors, the Taliban have recanted those statements and will allow the BBC office to remain open, despite the dismissal of leading woman BBC reporter, Kate Clark. It is important for ensuring a more accurate account of the Taliban’s brutal assault on the human rights of women and girls in Afghanistan that all international news agencies covering Afghanistan employ women reporters.

The Feminist Majority Foundation’s Media Resources: BBC News 14 March 2001

© Feminist Majority Foundation, publisher of Ms. magazine

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