All language subtitles for Global Eye S2026E20-Inside The Talibans Afghanistan 1080p WEB-DL H264-P147YPU5_track3_[eng]

Hello and welcome to Global Eye
from the BBC World Service.

Each week, we bring
our most compelling journalism,

from ground-breaking
and exclusive investigations

to remarkable human stories
from around the world.

I'm Mahjooba Nowrouzi,
BBC senior journalist,

and this week we are in Afghanistan.

Coming up on the programme,

BBC Eye goes inside
Afghanistan's Taliban government,

with rare access
to senior officials.

And we will bring you
the inspiring story

of the Afghan women's football team

back on the international stage
after a historic Fifa rule change.

My dream now
is to have a free country,

and be able to travel back home.

I was born in Afghanistan,

and I have been covering
this country for many years.

But since 2021, my work has been
shaped by constant barriers.

As a female journalist,

officials from
the Taliban government

often refuse to speak directly to me
or share the same camera frame.

I face restricted access
to locations,

rigid dress codes,
the need for a male companion,

and the requirement
for work permits.

Even speaking with people
on the street

can bring unwanted questioning
from security

or intelligence personnel.

These challenges are routine now,

yet they have strengthened
my resolve

to give voice to the realities
of life in Afghanistan.

My recent reporting has focused
on Afghan women's resilience

under growing restrictions.

Their stories have reinforced
the importance

of bearing witness
to both the challenges people face

and the resolve they show
in overcoming it.

Later in the programme,

I will bring you
the extraordinary story

of Afghan women's football team
in exile.

But first, few journalists have been
granted the kind of access

that my colleague, Kawoon Khamoosh,

has secured inside
Afghanistan's Taliban leadership.

He followed senior figures

as they navigated the shift
from insurgency to government,

offering a rare insight into the men
now shaping the country's future.

This is his film.

After 20 years of conflict,

the Taliban emerge
as Afghanistan's new rulers.

This was a huge moment
for Zabihullah Mujahid.

As the Taliban's chief spokesman,

he had been a target for Afghanistan
and US forces.

For over two decades,
he operated in the shadows.

Now that the Americans are gone,

he can show his face in public
for the first time.

Now his base is this press centre

the Americans built
for the previous government.

Like much of Afghanistan, the media
has undergone drastic changes

in the last five years.

Almost every journalist
I've met told me

that they were summoned
or questioned

by the intelligence.

Why that's happening?

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

One of the media channels
that has seen a dramatic shift

is Tolo TV -

one of the biggest
and most influential in the country.

It was once filled with music...

...entertainment...

...and news programmes
that criticised the Taliban.

Now it is subjected to editorial
restrictions by the Taliban.

Recently, the Taliban arrested
two presenters of Tolo TV

and held them for two weeks.

Today, Zabihullah Mujahid
is here to meet with them.

This isn't Zabihullah Mujahid's
first run-in with Tolo TV.

SIRENS BLARE

Ten years ago, the Taliban
sent a suicide bomber

to target Tolo TV staff.

7 people were killed
and 25 wounded.

As the Taliban's spokesman,
he defended the attack.

Survivors of the attack on Tolo TV

are too afraid
to appear in the media.

But one man who suffered
life-changing injuries

in the Tolo bombing told me that
he will never forgive or forget.

SIREN WAILS

The Taliban suicide attacks
killed thousands in Afghanistan,

including many civilians.

Two years ago, we went to see

the man responsible
for some of those bombings.

Habibullah Badr is
in charge of this prison.

He was on death row here,
waiting to be executed,

when the Taliban took power.

He turned from being
a death row prisoner...

...to a prison boss.

Habibullah Badr is eager
to talk about

how the previous government
treated Taliban prisoners.

But he doesn't seem interested

to talk about
what led to his imprisonment.

This city was a traditional
stronghold against the Taliban.

Now that the Taliban are in power,

they are trying to show
that they are not just insurgents.

Abdullah Sarhadi
is the local governor.

He's a former prisoner
in Guantanamo Bay

and is highly respected
and revered by the Taliban.

We are given unprecedented access
to film his daily meetings

with local people,
who come to him with their problems.

PHONE RINGS

Recently,
the Taliban banned smartphones

for government employees.

It has slowed down
the governor's work.

Although he is allowing us in,
he doesn't want everything recorded.

He wraps up most of
his meetings quickly,

sometimes between two sips of tea.

But one case
dominates the governor's day.

It's a divorce issue
involving an 18-year-old woman.

To protect her identity, we have had
someone else voice her words.

In Sharia,
if a woman initiates divorce,

she may have to repay the dowry
her husband gave her.

I am astonished by
what I just witnessed.

This brave woman knows her rights

and it's making it difficult
for the governor.

This is the Taliban's power base,
Kandahar,

where the supreme leader,
Hibatullah Akhundzada, is based.

And that's why it is seen
as the de facto capital.

It's where I meet
Zabihullah Mujahid again,

the Taliban's chief spokesman.

He is a hotline
to the Taliban's leader

and now spends much of his time
here in Kandahar.

During the war,

this entire area
used to be on the front line.

He seems to miss the years in hiding
and using a fake name.

But now settled in power,
he makes a huge decision -

to reveal his true identity
for the first time.

Many senior Taliban figures,
who spent years in the shadows,

now display the same confidence.

While these senior leaders
operate freely,

those who oppose them
have gone into hiding,

especially women, who have been
erased from public life.

SHOUTING

GUNFIRE

When they do fight back...

...they face harsh crackdowns.

Back in Sheberghan City,
the governor has now heard all sides

involved in the
18-year-old woman's divorce case,

including her husband,
who wants five times the dowry.

It is $30,000.

Upon returning
to power five years ago,

the Taliban said they have changed.

But it's a country run by men,
for men.

And you promised
that you will respect human rights.

You will allow women to participate
in all aspects of life,

work and study. Why did you fail
to keep your promise?

It is two years
since I last met Habibullah Badr,

the prison boss
and former suicide bombing planner.

Today he is receiving an award

at a tribal gathering
for his services to the country.

An awkward moment
for the crowd here.

They didn't expect him
to raise such a sensitive topic.

We take a drive through Kabul
in an armoured car,

the type of vehicle used
by previous government officials

to protect them from the kind
of bombings he used to plan.

I remind him of the list
of Taliban suicide attacks

where civilians were killed,
but he changes the topic.

Back in his luxurious home,

now that he is no longer
in charge of prisons,

he is willing to discuss his past.

The Taliban's position
is one of isolation.

More than two thirds of people
are unemployed.

And the US has frozen billions
of dollars of the country's assets.

Afghanistan has a history
of political upheavals.

It's not clear
how long the Taliban can last.

But the biggest threat
to their survival

is from within
the Taliban themselves.

The erosion of women's rights
under the Taliban government

means, today, Afghan women face

some of the world's
most severe restrictions.

They are barred from
secondary school and university.

They must cover their faces
and bodies in public.

They are forbidden
from making direct eye contact

with men
who are not close relatives.

And they are prohibited from playing
sport or competing in events.

But against all odds,

Afghanistan's women's
football team in exile

has found a way back
onto the international stage.

Earlier this year,
FIFA gave permission

for them to represent Afghanistan
in official competitions,

without requiring the approval
of the Taliban government.

For the BBC Global Women,

I have been following
their remarkable journey.

The players have flown from all over
the world to meet in New Zealand.

It's the first time they have
all been together

in over seven months,

and it is their chance
to begin competing

for a spot on the national squad.

Do you like it? Yeah. It's nice.
It's really nice

to have our three colours
on our chest.

Perfect. OK. Can I get you to...?

Najma, who has travelled
from Doncaster in England,

where she now lives, is trying on
the new kit for the first time.

It's something very rare
and special not being able to...

You're playing for your country
but you are not in your country.

It's been five years.
We are getting older and older

and we haven't
got a new generation.

Good.

I was bullied throughout high school

and football gave me the confidence
to be who I am today

and to be able to speak loud.

So I don't know where I would be!

Two, three, go.

Mursal, who has
been living in Melbourne,

has accessorised her kit
with her nails.

Nice!

I wanted to use this platform

to advocate
for the women of Afghanistan

who haven't been allowed to study
for the past five years.

Obviously the book and the flags
and the date, August 15th,

the date that Afghanistan fell.

My dream now to have a free country
and be able to travel back home.

The team start their training camp

to prepare for their first match
since the rule change,

against the Cook Islands
at the end of the week.

Three, two, one!
Afghanistan!

Whenever I find myself
in a dark situation,

I think about it and I'm like,

"Girl, right now, you're the light
for women back home.

"So don't give up. Keep burning."

UNTRANSLATED SPEECH

Mursal fled from Afghanistan
to Australia in 2021,

and has been there ever since.

She hasn't seen her family in person
since she left the country.

In August 2021,
the airport was not like an airport.

The first gate -
when I went with my mum,

they put a gun towards me.
It was like, "Where is your man?"

I was panicking
and my mother said that,

"Oh, our men
made it inside the airport.

"We were left outside
and we got separated."

So she handled the situation.

And that's
when I had my best friend, Rasia,

who is also part of the team,
and she was 17 at the time -

that's when I broke down.

Literally, like, I put
my head on her shoulders -

I remember - and I started crying.
I was like, "This is the end."

I think for me,
every time, it's very hard

to talk about, like, Afghan women
and girls

because I feel very privileged
and...

Do you feel guilty?

I feel guilty.

It's like you're not doing enough.

You need to work harder,
twice as others, to...

...to be proud, I think.

Sometimes my parents
are saying like,

"You're putting too much
pressure on yourself."

But I'm like,
"I should put the pressure."

OK, ladies,
it's officially game day.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

UNTRANSLATED SPEECH

Enjoy. Oh, yeah. That's the point.
Keep the ball as long as you want.

Three. Two. One,
Afghanistan!

WHISTLE BLOWS

We want to win the game.
Just visualising the positivity!

Despite playing their hardest,
the team lose the game.

With the result that we got,

obviously we're very disappointed
with the result, that 3-0.

Girls, I'm so proud of
our young players who played today.

Very great game. Don't cry.
Don't put your heads down.

It's more than football for us.

You have loads of things
on your shoulders,

so be mindful of that
and you're giving your best, OK?

I'm proud of...

Being able to represent your country
is the greatest honour,

but if I don't make it to the squad,

of course I will be disappointed
and sad.

And it's natural, I think.

But I would be proud of the team
and proud of myself

that I was part of the journey

and we made the history
by being the first football team

to get our recognition
without the approval of the Taliban.

We don't know when we're going
to see each other again,

but it's just always amazing
to have this second family.

One. Two. Three.
Afghanistan!

Thanks for joining me
in Afghanistan.

We will be back in two weeks.
Goodbye.