It was dramatic in the Afghan capital today. Hundreds of protesters have taken to the streets to protest the Taliban and one of its main supporters, Pakistan. A number of videos were sent to NRK’s mobile phone, and social media was flooded with photos and videos from the demonstrations.
Death over Pakistan… Protesters scream and raise their fists in the air. In the Shahr Naw district in the heart of the Afghan capital, protesters took to the streets, holding placards and placards reading “Freedom” and “Pakistan out of Afghanistan”.
Heavily armed Taliban fighters try to prevent protesters from approaching the Pakistani embassy in Kabul.
Photo: AA / ABACA / Abaca
A man uses a shout to get the message across to the protesters:
– We demand an independent government, not a government that works for Pakistan.
anger at pakistan
Many Afghans believe that the Pakistani authorities, especially the powerful ISI in the country, are behind the Taliban. Large parts of the Taliban leadership have been based in Pakistan for the past twenty years. Most Afghan experts agree that the Taliban would not be able to become so powerful without Pakistan’s military, economic, and political support. So, many Afghans reacted furiously to the visit of the head of the ISI this weekend – a visit that was exposed when experienced British journalist Lindsey Hilsum accidentally supported him in the lobby of the Serena Hotel in Kabul.
– What is this fool doing in our country? He trained suicide bombers and sent them to our cities. Now he’s here to secure his interests at our expense? , asks a man who was photographed during the demonstration.
Protesting the Taliban’s sudden takeover of Afghanistan, demonstrators wave the three-color Afghan flag that the Taliban removed from public offices and replaced with their white and black flags.
Demonstrators wave the old Afghan flag in protest against the Taliban.
Photo: Tom Brenner/Reuters
Hundreds of women also participated in the protests. They shout slogans at the Taliban soldiers who walk right beside them, Kalashnikovs slung over their shoulders.
– We demand our rights. Freedom! Freedom! The women scream loudly.
In one clip, there is a rush between Taliban soldiers and women. Here you can see several women walking in the face of the Taliban and shouting: ‘Don’t try to touch us! stay away! ‘
As the Taliban try to blow them up, the women shout:
Death to traitors! Death to the slaves of Pakistan!
Taliban soldiers are confused about the whole situation.
Shot to scare
Another activist posted on Twitter a video claiming that the Taliban forced dozens of women into a parking garage to prevent them from demonstrating. She looked frightened as she filmed herself in the garage when the voice of a Taliban soldier could be heard in the background: Put the phone down!
Taliban soldiers also beat several women with sticks after disobeying orders to leave
The scenes in the mobile videos reminded many Afghans of the time the Taliban last came to power in the 1990s. Then it was common for men and women who broke the Taliban’s strict rules to be beaten in the open.
Taliban soldiers struggled to control the masses in Kabul. At one point, many Taliban fighters resorted to shooting in the air to disperse and intimidate protesters. Heavy gunfire caused panic among the screaming protesters who ran into a bunker.
Journalists who covered the historic demonstrations, the largest since the Taliban took power more than three weeks ago, were also arrested.
Waheed Ahmadi, a journalist working for Afghanistan’s most famous TV channel, Tolo, was arrested and deprived of photographic equipment. Only three hours later he was released and his equipment was recovered, according to colleague Ziar Khan Yad, who posted a message on Twitter.
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