Clarissa Ward: The US reporter who fearlessly strolls the chaotic streets of Kabul
US reporter Clarissa Ward has become somewhat of an internet sensation after clips of her strolling the streets of Kabul in Afghanistan have gone viral.
The London-based TV journalist, currently an international correspondent for CNN, has been documenting the changes in the Afghan capital following its takeover by the Taliban.
In 2019, Ward became one of the first Western female reporters to cover Taliban controlled areas of Afghanistan.
Just yesterday, Ward and her crew were “accosted” by a Taliban fighter who thought they were reporting without permission.
The journalist was told to cover her face when speaking to one member of the Taliban, adhering to the military group’s Sharia law which strongly polices the actions of women.
Ward, who can speak six languages, was then crowded by men who had worked at American military camps as translators – but were unable to get into Kabul’s airport to leave the country.
Earlier today Ward described Kabul’s airport situation as a “bottleneck”, with hundreds trying to flee the country via military planes.
However, she explained that some had been waiting for over two days to get on a plane – adding that it was one of the most “harrowing” scenes she had experienced while reporting on the ground of Kabul so far.
The journalist, formerly at CBS, is not stranger to “dicey” political and humanitarian unrests.
In December last year she was part of a joint investigation by The Insider and Bellingcat in co-operation with CNN and Der Spiegel which reported on how Russian Federal Security Service members stalked opposition leader Alexei Navalny for years, including just before his poisoning.