Dateline Kabul
THE story will be told later of journalists who remained behind in Kabul to report on the fall of the city to the Taliban.
Here I must commend my old friend Kim Sengupta – we used to sit opposite each other at the Daily Mail. He is now security and defence editor of the Independent and, although this is a hazardous assignment, he has been in Kabul for several weeks.
I heard him on LBC last week, giving a harrowing account of women crushed to death at Kabul airport. The Independent is now online only, but Kim’s tweets have kept us informed about the unfolding tragedy.
“A grim and very sad morning of death and loss outside the airport: Children orphaned as parents crushed to death in Kabul airport chaos,” he said in one tweet.
“Full of admiration for fellow journalists who are doing so much to help those under threat from the Taliban to get out of Afghanistan,” he said in another.
He added: “The four deaths at Kabul airport were outside the British camp, soldiers tried all they could to save the victims. Bodies were later collected by relations.”
And: “Still difficult to believe a German A-400M transporter left with just 7 people on board.
“The honeymoon period, what was there of it, seems to be ending past with the Taliban beginning to search homes and, reportedly, arresting people.”
Kim quoted Afshaneh Ansari, a female student and activist: “I was thinking this morning, I was born in the year the Taliban lost power 20 years ago, the life I wanted so much and tried so hard to achieve ends 20 years later, today.”
When Kim finally gets out of Kabul, his story behind the story will be fascinating.