In Afghanistan, The Few Foreign Journalists Who Remain Need Lots Of Permits, And Even More Patience – Special Report
deadline.comEditor’s note: Hollie McKay’s latest special report for Deadline finds the veteran foreign affairs correspondent and Only Cry for the Living: Memos from Inside the ISIS Battlefield author back in Afghanistan more than a year after the U.S.
withdrawal, and negotiating how to be a journalist in the country now the Taliban has solidified its return to power. Squished into the back of a Taliban truck with intelligence authorities and bumping along a barren mountain road on what feels like the edges of the earth, I wonder how long my detainment will last.
It is not the first time I have been forced into their temporary custody, and it would not be the last. People are often surprised to learn I went back to Afghanistan in September, believing that it must be impossible to get there because of its isolation on the world stage.
The truth? Most of the airlines that operated before the fall quickly resumed running to and from Kabul. In addition, I had an existing work permit that I renewed in January before the shuttering of the Los Angeles consulate under the old government (yes, the Taliban still honored it).
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