‘Escape from Kabul’ director on Afghanistan under Taliban rule: ‘You just hear gunfire’
nypost.comthe departure of American troops from Afghanistan in August 2021, chaos, fear and rampant violence has ruled the country, said Roberts, the director of “Escape From Kabul,” a new documentary chronicling the harrowing exodus premiering Wednesday on HBO Max.Armed raids are only the beginning of everyday terrors under Taliban rule now faced by Afghanistan citizens — including American allies unable to flee.“You’ll see it on the street, [the Taliban] have complete control and they’re hardliners.
So people follow their rules and if they don’t, then you get beaten, or you get put in prison, or you don’t really know, because the rules aren’t really set yet … there were people getting shot at checkpoints,” he added. “There were [constant] minor bombings happening … You just hear gunfire at night.”Earlier this month, after the regime reportedly closed down several sixth-grade-and-up schools for girls, the United Nations said that Taliban were committing “intimidation and harassment targeting its Afghan female staff.”“It’s not a regular functioning country with a judiciary, police force, government and journalists to hold those to account.
You’ve just got one single entity with no oversight,” Roberts said. “The journalists are being arrested. Obviously, women are very fearful for what’s going to come to them … you have this fake news taken to another level, everything’s just on social media.
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