CNN footage reveals the moment a CNN crew was threatened by Taliban fighters with AK-47s in Kabul after the group took over Afghanistan.
The footage shows Clarissa Ward, the CNN chief international correspondent, walking down a street in Kabul with her crew, trailed by Taliban members. She tells the camera that “these Taliban fighters are a little upset with us, so let’s keep going.” And notes that the crew decided to leave the area and return to their car.
In a voiceover, she points out how one fighter can be seen taking the safety off of his AK-47 as he pushes through the crowd.
Ward tells the camera: “You can see that some of these Taliban fighters, they’re just hopped up on adrenaline, or I don’t know what. It’s a very dicey situation.”
In the voiceover, Ward says that: ”Suddenly, two other Taliban charge toward us. “You can see their rifle butt, raised to strike producer Brent Swails. When the fighters are told we have permission to report, they lower their weapons and let us pass.”
This was the second time Ward described her team being threatened by Taliban fighters, on Wednesday, Ward said that two armed Taliban fighters came up to her producer, Swails, while he was taking video on his iPhone, ready “to pistol-whip him”.
“We had to intervene and scream and it was actually another Taliban fighter who came in and said, ‘No, no, no, don’t do that, they’re journalists,'” Ward said.
Watch the footage here:
"Two Taliban fighters just came up with their pistols, and they were ready to pistol whip [our producer who was taking video]. We had to intervene and scream…” pic.twitter.com/3mvCCTlSQR
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) August 18, 2021
Here's the moment that @clarissaward and crew were confronted by the Taliban on the streets of Kabul. pic.twitter.com/2ueKYbR8xg
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) August 18, 2021
Sources: Business Insider, Twitter
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