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Transcript/Script A2A PF Afghan Female Broadcaster
HEADLINE: Afghan Journalist Who Fled Taliban Rule Adjusts to Life in Europe
TEASER: With Taliban restrictions on women and media, journalists like Nafisa Sahar chose to flee to the West
PUBLISHED AT: Wednesday, 08/16/2023 at 00:07 EDT
BYLINE: Helay Asad
DATELINE: Dusseldorf, Germany
CONTRIBUTOR: Roshan Noorzai
VIDEOGRAPHER: Helay Asad
VIDEO EDITOR: Bezhan Hamdard
SCRIPT EDITORS: JJ, Jepsen
VIDEO SOURCES: VOA Afghan Service, Nafisa Sahar, AFP
PLATFORMS: WEB __ TV X RADIO
TRT: 2:33
VID APPROVED BY: pcd
TYPE: TVPKG/RADIO EDITOR NOTES: For VOA Press Freedom. ))
((INTRO))
[[As a woman and a journalist, Nafisa Sahar saw no future for herself when the Taliban took back power in Afghanistan. Now in Dusseldorf, Germany, she is picking up the pieces of her life. For Helay Asad in Dusseldorf, Bezhan Hamdard has the story for VOA News.]]
((NARRATOR))
Nafisa Sahar has seen big changes in her life over the past two years. Originally from Jalalabad in eastern Afghanistan, since November 2021 the journalist has lived in Dusseldorf, Germany.
A radio broadcaster and journalist, Sahar was one of many Afghans who felt at risk after the Taliban took back power two years ago.
For now, Sahar is trying to adjust to a new life in a new country. But her plan is to return to her profession.
First, she must overcome a language barrier.
((Nafisa Sahar, Former Journalist ((Female/Pashto))
“For me, the biggest issue is the language. Unless I learn German, I can’t work in my profession or deal with daily activities.”
((NARRATOR))
Sahar is one of hundreds of journalists to flee Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover.
Many of them face similar problems in adjusting to life in Europe and the U.S.
((For radio: Hamid Obaidi is the Germany-based founder of the Afghanistan Journalists Support Organization))
((Hamid Obaidi, Afghanistan Journalists Support Organization ((Male/Dari))
“Learning the language is one of the major challenges for journalists. Unfortunately, this has forced them to work in other fields. Unless the newly arrived journalists are fluent in the new language, it will be very difficult for them to find jobs in their own field.”
((NARRATOR))
The Taliban return had a dramatic effect on Afghanistan’s once vibrant media environment, with the country ranking poorly on the global press freedom index.
An estimated 80 percent of women lost their jobs in media, and more than half of the country’s news outlets have shuttered, says Reporters Without Borders.
[[https://rsf.org/en/afghan-journalism-still-resisting-after-two-years-taliban-persecution]]
Among those to close is Sahar’s former employer, Nargis Radio, which broadcast to female audiences until it shuttered in 2022.
If she had stayed in Jalalabad, Sahar says she would have had no option but to stay at home.
((Nafisa Sahar, Former Journalist ((Female/Pashto))
“I would have faced a lot of psychological problems because I would be at home. I could do nothing. All my rights would have been taken away from me, just like other women.”
((NARRATOR))
Sahar says that the future for Afghan women looks bleak under Taliban rule, which brought a return to restrictive measures including bans on education.
((Nafisa Sahar, Former Journalist ((Female/Pashto))
“If the situation continues like this, women’s future [in Afghanistan] is dark. How can a country have a bright future if the doors to education are closed?”
((NARRATOR))
Still, she hopes that one day the situation will improve, and she will be able to return home and continue to work in journalism.
((For Helay Asad in Dusseldorf, Germany, Bezhan Hamdard, VOA News))
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