Kabul is seeing spurts of new defiance against the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan, with protests erupting across the country on Thursday, 19 August, when the country celebrated its 'Independence Day'.

Videos and images from Kabul showed men and women waving the red, green, and black of Afghanistan and chanting “our flag, our pride”, and “God is great.”

Though the Taliban have stated that it has moderated its stance but on Thursday, with open gunfire aimed at the protesters on the streets, shooting near the airport, and a confirmation that Sharia will return, the gap between their words and the ground reality was revealed.

In fact, throughout this week, the world witnessed reports of Taliban fighters brutally beating up Afghanis, assaulting foreign journalists, and preventing people from travelling to the airport.

With mounting fears of what kind of government the Taliban will establish in the days to come, there are also concerns regarding an economic downturn with the US freezing Afghanistan’s foreign reserves and the IMF cutting off access to loans and resources.

The harrowing developments over the past week beg the following questions:

Where is Afghanistan headed and what is the ground reality outside Kabul where the eyes of international media don’t reach?

To understand this, we spoke with Frud Bezhan, an Afghan journalist with Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty who has extensively covered Afghanistan and the Taliban insurgency.

Producer and Host: Himmat Shaligram

Guests: Frud Bezhan, an Afghan journalist with Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty who has extensively covered Afghanistan and the Taliban insurgency. 

Editor: Shelly Walia

Music: Big Bang Fuzz

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