Dispatches with Hollie McKay
Dispatches with Hollie McKay
Q&A from Kabul. Three months into Taliban Rule, Hollie Continues to Answer More Questions from Internet Users
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Q&A from Kabul. Three months into Taliban Rule, Hollie Continues to Answer More Questions from Internet Users

From "What do you eat?" to "Can you enter and exit Afghanistan?" Get the details of the situation on the ground three months into Taliban rule.

November 23, 2021 question and answer session with Hollie McKay in Afghanistan.

May be an image of 1 person, sunglasses and outdoors

The first question is from wissshy

Your work is so important it feels so tense watching. How do you relax over there on your days off?

It's always hard to relax because when I'm not out interviewing, I'm at home writing, researching, preparing, getting one story done, or preparing for something else. So, there isn't a lot of relaxation time. But I'm fortunate that I’m in a house with a couple of amazing local Afghans who work here and run the house. They make me the very forbidden, “chilime” is the local name, but it’s also referred to as hookah or shisha. So that is a little bit of a of a relaxation point for me.  But beyond that, there really isn't.

You know, I like to listen to music, and I also work out I have a room to work out because I can't run in the street. But there really aren’t an enormous number of avenues. So, I figure while I'm here, I'm going to work; and hopefully, when I come home, I will take advantage of some relaxation time.

So next question is from crownofglorybeauty.

What's your favorite thing you have learned from the beautiful Afghan people?

There is so much. Afghanistan is an incredible place with just incredibly, as you said, beautiful people. I think for me, it really is resilience. Afghans have been through so much and just their ability to adapt to very extreme changes in a small period is really a testament to them and to their ability to survive and to get on with life. And I think something that we can all learn from is that ability to accept what's handed to you. I see that in, pretty much, every Afghan I meet.

kaylagcoons

Is the Taliban planning to remain in Afghanistan or expand into other neighboring nations?

No, that's not what the Taliban's objective is. That's sort of what makes them quite different from the Daesh (ISIS), al Qaeda. or to other terrorist groups. Their goals are very much nationalistic. The Taliban want to control Afghanistan. They want no foreign footprint here. They want to implement their version of Islamic law within Afghanistan. They have little interest in expanding beyond their borders. They want diplomatic relations with other countries, but they don't have any desire to expand their footprint beyond controlling Afghanistan.

cidpusa

What do you like eating?

Oh I'm, you know I'm kind of the butt of every joke right now. I live on what we call mast, which is yogurt. Afghanistan has amazing fresh yogurt. I eat that for breakfast, lunch, and dinner with a little bit of Afghan fresh bread. You can buy a big piece of Afghan fresh bread. It's ten Afghani, which is $0.10 in in US currency.

And yes, it's kind of kind of what I live on really. I went through a very strange thing before I moved. Suddenly. I couldn't eat meat anymore. I couldn't even eat eggs or chicken or anything like that, even though Afghanistan has amazing meets, amazing kebabs; but I can't do it, so I I'm really a little bit limited.

g.miller.128

Do you still have that Slayer shirt, and do you still listen to metal in Afghanistan?

I do have the Slayer shirt. It's not with me. I believe that it is in my storage unit, which my friend Dennis taking care of for me in California. It is buried there somewhere.

I do listen to all types of music. I definitely listen to some metal when I'm in the mood for that. I’m also into classical and local music. I listen to pop. I listen to country. I'm still a rock girl so I usually go back to my 90's rock. And yes, that's sort of an outlet for me. But I listen to whatever I want. I even listen to it on my road trips and just turn it down when I get to a Taliban checkpoint.

Next question from 41_fatboy,

How accepting have the general Afghans been of the government change? Is there any sense of hope that it will work? Or are they just trying to make the best of the situation?

I think it's a question that's very much a challenge to paint with a broad brush. There are certainly many Afghans who prefer the Taliban. You know, they see the Taliban's as providing extra security, or adhering to what they believe in ideologically, or eliminating the corruption that existed under the previous government. So, there are certainly people that embrace the Taliban. It really depends on where they live and their background.

There are of course many Afghans who don't want the Taliban here who see them as taking away a lot of the freedoms and the things that they enjoyed in the past. So, for them, it again goes back to that resiliency of just having to get on with life.

And then you have another huge subset of the population that are desperate to leave. Some of those people may feel that they're under threat. Some of those people have had their freedoms, their education, their work, all the things they've worked being taken away; and of course, the economic situation here is terrible. So, you see a lot of people that that want to leave for economic reasons. Economic migration for the ability to be able to work and to feed their family.

It's very much a mixed bag.

The next one is going to be a combination from gigiallbrooks8111 and _dorcas_miller_,

Is the Christian Church is allowed to meet publicly in Afghanistan? Is Christianity common in Afghanistan, and how does the Taliban handle the Christian religion?

I geta lot of questions pertaining to Christianity and I want to make the distinction that Afghanistan is not, Iraq in Syria, which are birthplaces of Christianity. There are a lot more Christians in the Middle East.

Afghanistan is not the Middle East. Afghanistan is Asia. It comes from a very different cultural background. Even under previous government, there really weren't a substantial number of Christians.

There are no Christian churches that I've ever been aware of now or previously. Christians usually are Muslim on their ID cards, or will be known as a Muslim; because to be identified as a Christian would be very dangerous.

Christians do exist in relatively small numbers, but they usually identify as Muslims. It's only within that very closed sector of their community.

It's usually people that have converted which of course is, you know, um …apostasy is such a huge sin where their lives would really be threatened if that was known. So, it's very much under the radar for their own safety.

Maybe it was by a missionary. Or maybe, it was by their own choice; but they’re usually people that aren't necessarily born into Christianity.

But again, Afghanistan is not the Middle East. Afghanistan is not Iraq, so it doesn't have the same cultural ties dating back to Christianity.

Last question from cindy3z,

Are there many other internationals working there? What freedom is there to enter or leave as non-residents?

There are internationals. Obviously, nothing compared to what there used to be. It's an exceedingly small subset. There aren’t the NGOs or the security sector anymore.  It's mostly only foreign journalists. Most of the foreign journalists, I meet are usually from Europe. I don't really meet too many people from America or other places. I know five French journalists that are staying here. Also, somebody from Russia. And then of course, Jake and I are Australian; and I'm also American. So, it's a little bit of a mixed bag. But it's a small subset.

There is freedom to leave if you have a foreign passport and there are flights. They're quite expensive. You do have to pay with cash. Then you can go to Abu Dhabi, or go to Tehran, or you can go to Islamabad. They (flights) are extremely limited; but they do exist. It is possible to get out of the country. You know, hopefully, if the flight leaves, which is always precarious. But yes, there are routes to leave.

And there are some land routes to leave. You can cross the border and go into Pakistan if you get permission. You do need a visa, e.g., permission from the Pakistani embassy.

You used to be able to go back and forth from Uzbekistan. But that border has been closed for several weeks I believe. They found two Dutch ISIS members that were posing as journalists trying to get into Afghanistan via Uzbekistan. So that border has been closed. I'm not sure if or when that is going to be reopened.

But those are sort of the two main routes. In general, people coming in are usually flying in from Abu Dhabi or crossing from Pakistan.

Thanks again for your support. Follow me on Instagram and Twitter for more updates

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