'Taliban detained me for writing against them', Australian journalist details her ordeal to WION

An Australian journalist, who has been working extensively in Afghanistan for more than 20 years, was detained by the Taliban and was forced to write an apology tweet for writing on the militant groups’ atrocities.

Foreign Policy magazine writerLynne O’Donnell was held captive for three days after she arrived in Kabul for writing on the plight of women under the Taliban regime and how teenage girls are being used as sex slaves.

On Tuesday, she was coerced into writing an apology after being threatened with dire consequences.

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It was eighteen hours later when Lynne tweeted again, everything became clear as to what transpired.

Speaking to WION’s correspondent Anas Mallick, O’Donnell, whohas now left Afghanistan, revealed what happened on that fateful day and described how this episode left a deep scar on her.

WION: Why did you retract your story?

O’Donnell: I had been detained by people, who told me that they are operatives of the Taliban intelligence agency. They held me for 4 hours and threatened to send me to prison and asked me to make a confession that the reports that I had made for Foreign Policy magazine were fake. When I mentioned who my sources were, they said that they don't exist. I apologised to them, but it was not enough. They wanted me to make my apology public, so they dictated word-by-word to me. After that, they edited and sent them to somebody they called their boss—the superior—who then re-edited and made me send the tweet.

WION: Do you stand by your story?

O'Donnell: Yes, I do. 100 per cent.

WION: But the Taliban are accusing you of being an unethical journalist and that you are a foreign agent or a spy. What do you have to say about that?

O’Donnell: One of the people who is accusing me of not being a journalist and for making a faulty report or that I have concocted my source, doesn’t even use his name torepresent himself. He is the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He doesn’t use his name, everybody knows that. I am what I am, and I stand by whatever I do.

WION: How do you see the future of journalism and journalists in Afghanistan, and how essential is it to have voices like yours to be there?

O’Donnell: The Taliban have been muddling the press for longer than they have been in power (since last August), and as they took control of districts and cities, they closed down Afghan media organisations. They detained, beat and killed some journalists, while many fled the country. Some of them are still continuing to function as journalists—writing and reporting on Afghanistan—from outside. That is the only way they can do it with any freedom. And what is happening to those surviving media organisations is that they are second-guessing—unable to work as a journalist. And they know that because media was free anda booming sector before the Taliban came in. There are people who say that journalists in Afghanistan are able to operate and do their job undeterred, but that is not true. I spoketo people, who are independent media monitors,when I was in Kabul, and they told me that they are still doing their work in all 34 Afghan provinces, but they can't publish anymore.

WION: How much has Afghanistan changed from when you left?

O’Donnell: That is why I wanted to go. I went there to see what’s happening in the country since the Taliban took control. There is no point in pretending that everything was fantastic under the previous elected government—it was a corrupt administration which had no strategy and no leadership. The US decided to withdraw the military support and precipitated the collapse of the government. Since then, the status of women has deteriorated, they are not being allowed to take up jobs, girls are no longer allowed to go to school, and civil society has disappeared. Many people whom I spoke to when I was in Kabul described the prevailing atmosphere as a reign of terror. They are scared to talk. There are parameters, if they cross then they will be in trouble. They just don’t know what are those parameters, and that’s how fear is prevailing.