New documentary tells Afghan women's stories five years after Taliban return
A new documentary features testimony from Afghan women about life under Taliban restrictions, five years after the group returned to power.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
A new documentary, Banished: The Taliban's War on Women, examines restrictions on Afghan women and girls five years after the Taliban returned to power. It features testimony from dozens of women whose lives have been turned upside down, including some who are determined to improve conditions for the next generation despite the risks.
The programme reports that women's rights in Afghanistan have been all but eradicated. It notes that the United Nations has described the country as the worst place in the world to be a woman or girl, and that the UN describes the treatment of women and girls as gender apartheid. The Taliban government has banned education for girls aged 12 and above.
According to the documentary, Afghanistan has been largely cut off from the international community since the Taliban seized power. An estimated million children are starving, it says. The Taliban is meanwhile conducting a charm offensive and PR drive, handing out visas to influencers while making it increasingly hard for journalists to obtain them.
The film follows special correspondent Alex Crawford's return to Afghanistan after years away as she asks whether there is any way back for a country on its knees. It includes women's accounts of life under the Taliban and a section in which a white male journalist is challenged over whether he risks giving the wrong impression in a country where women are repressed and oppressed. He responds that his videos aim to bring a little levity, while acknowledging there is nothing funny about the suffering of millions.
Banished: The Taliban's War on Women is due to be broadcast tonight at 9pm.
On screen
Stills are sampled automatically at 60-second intervals. Where shown, the still is the nearest available frame from the relevant broadcast segment and is included to show what was on screen during that part of the broadcast. A still may not correspond to the exact second of a quoted phrase.
Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, grouped by how many channels reported each one. Select a dot to see the source excerpt.
| Claim |  |
|---|---|
| Only on one channel | |
| A new documentary features Afghan women's testimony alongside a correspondent's journey. | |
| The Taliban government banned education for girls aged 12 and over. | |
| Women's rights in Afghanistan have been almost entirely eroded five years after the Taliban returned to power. | |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
Sky News led its morning coverage with a promotional segment for its own new documentary, built around Alex Crawford's reporting and testimony from Afghan women. The tone was urgent and human rights focused, stressing that women's rights have been all but eradicated five years after the Taliban's return and that the UN calls Afghanistan the worst place to be a woman or girl. It also noted the education ban, starvation and the Taliban's media charm offensive, while offering no Taliban response beyond that framing.
- “It's been five years since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan And since then women's rights have been all but eradicated”
- “the United Nations has described it as the worst place in the world to be a woman or girl”
- “You can watch banished the Taliban's war on women tonight 9 p.m On Sky News”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.