Yvonne Ridley – An Unexpected Flight to Pakistan A Tale #1

I was actually on my way to the

departure lounge when my news editor called and

said change of plan, go to Pakistan.

Out there that is the World Trade Center

and we have unconfirmed reports this morning that

a plane has crashed into one of the

towers of the World Trade Center.

I was on my way to New York

because that's where the story was, the collapse

of the Twin Towers, the terror attack, the

attack on the Pentagon.

I was actually on my way to the

departure lounge when my news editor called and

said change of plan, go to Pakistan.

Well, I had no knowledge of Pakistan other

than what I'd seen on TV and that

was very limited.

Other than the famous cricketer Imran Khan, you

nothing about Pakistan and I was very reluctant

but I went.

About 3,000 journalists within that week arrived

in Islamabad and it was quite an incredible

experience waiting for the war to start while

the war of words unfolded between Washington, London.

Islamabad was playing a key role through General

Pervez Musharraf.

At that particular time I was in Pakistan

when he addressed the nation to say whether

Pakistan exactly where its position was going to

be.

Pakistan has taken a considered decision to be

a part of the coalition, to be with

the United States, to fight terrorism in all

its forms wherever it exists.

And it was quite clear at that point

he had a metaphorical gun to his head

from America and he had to react accordingly.

I'm very competitive.

I don't like sitting being spoon fed and

so I wanted to get a story that

nobody else had got.

And to my mind that was going into

Afghanistan and it wasn't my editor's idea.

They were very much against it initially but

I was determined to go into Afghanistan to

find out from ordinary people what is life

like under the Taliban.

Is it the most brutal evil regime in

the world?

That's what George Bush and Tony Blair were

saying.

But of course if you're going to bomb

a country you can't drop bombs on nice

people.

So you have to demonize them first.

I wore the all enveloping blue burqa and

went in with a couple of guides and

if we had been challenged they would have

said that I was deaf and dumb and

not able to respond.

So that was the cover story that we

went and we went in.

The first place we visited was Jalalabad and

I sat on the edge of the marketplace

while the guides went off and bought provisions.

I was able to observe life in Jalalabad

and then we went into a village a

couple of miles away called Karma.

That day the Taliban spiritual leader who had

already kicked out all of the western media

from Afghanistan, he released an edict just that

morning to say anyone helping a westerner during

this time of escalating tension would be arrested.

So I was taken into a room of

a house and sat there while they decided

what they were going to do.

And of course Afghans have this overwhelming need

and drive to be hospitable and so very

soon they forgot the burning issue of you

know are we in danger but they wanted

to know more about me and did I

want some tea, did I want something to

eat and within a few minutes I was

able to dispel some of the myths which

still pervade today about the Taliban.

I met a young girl who was training

to be a doctor and I said to

her I didn't think that women were educated

in Afghanistan.

Throughout the next 11 days I learned quite

a bit about the people of Afghanistan through

the people on the ground who I'd met

in the village and subsequently when I was

captured through the Taliban.