American woman reporter dons hijab as Taliban takes over Afghanistan

An American woman reported donned a hijab while reporting from Kabul on Monday after Taliban took over the reins of the country on Sunday by effectively pushing out the civilian administration. Taliban’s return to power has reignited fears of a return to the dark days when the ultra-conservative militant group suppressed civil rights and imposed curbs on the movement of women. 

Clarissa Ward, the CNN chief international correspondent, was clad in a hijab while reporting from Kabul on Monday morning. This came the day after the Taliban took over Afghanistan’s capital.

In her ‘New Day’ report, she showed how the city has witnessed some dramatic changes in the last 24 hours.

“This is a sight I honestly thought I would never see,” Ward said. “Scores of Taliban fighters, and just behind us, the U.S. Embassy compound.”

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“New Day” anchors Jon Berman and Brianna Keilar further asked her to report deeply on the changes, to which she pointed out that she could see many Taliban members roaming in the streets, while the other ordinary citizens were mostly men.

“I have seen a few women, but I will say, I have seen far fewer women than I would ordinarily see walking down the streets of Kabul,” Ward said. “And the women that you do see walking down the streets of Kabul tend to be dressed more conservatively than they were when they were walking down the streets of Kabul yesterday. I’ve seen more burkas today than I had seen in a while. Obviously, I am dressed in a very different way to how I would normally dress to walk down the streets of Kabul.”

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Clarissa Ward was, in fact, asked to stand aside for being a woman, at one point. She claimed that her presence there became a cause for tension among the Taliban members she spoke to.

“It’s anyone’s guess as to what the situation on the ground will look like in two hours, let alone two days, two months,” she said.

She had, on Sunday, spoken on CNN’s Reliable Sources about CNN continuing to report in Kabul, “We’re definitely being exceptionally cautious and trying to ride this thing out in a calm manner.”