'Don't be afraid', says Afghanistan TV news anchor surrounded by armed Taliban fighters; see video here

The clip of a television anchor from Afghanistan asking his audience not to be afraid of the Taliban while he is surrounded by armed fighters from the group has gone viral. According to reports, the Taliban stormed a TV station and asked the anchor to talk to his audience, telling them not to be afraid. The 42-second clip captures the host of a political debate programme reading a statement from the Taliban. BBC journalist Kian Sharifi tweeted that the presenter of Afghan TV’s Peace Studio political debate programme conducted the programme with armed Taliban fighters behind him. The tweet added that the journalist had to proclaim that the Islamic Emirate (the Taliban’s preferred name) “wants the public to “cooperate with it and should not be afraid.” Check out the video below:

With armed Taliban fighters standing behind him, the presenter of Afghan TV's Peace Studio political debate programme says the Islamic Emirate (Taliban's preferred name) wants the public to "cooperate with it and should not be afraid".pic.twitter.com/rclw3P9E7M

— Kian Sharifi (@KianSharifi) August 29, 2021

People on social media were shocked with many expressing disbelief at seeing the TV anchor read the news surrounded by a group of Taliban gunmen. In another tweet, Sharifi informed that the TV programme is called Pardaz. Later during the show, the host also interviewed a Taliban fighter, who was reportedly higher in rank than the rest of the group present in the studio. Last week, German media company Deutsche Welle informed that a relative of one of its journalists was killed by Taliban while searching for him. The public broadcast also revealed that the Taliban have been conducting a house-to-house search for the journalist, who currently works in Germany. So far, the Taliban have raided homes of at least four media workers in the Afghanistan, including three staff members of Deutsche Welle. The media workers have gone into hiding now.