Shoaib Sharifi (part one) : My heart started pounding and the man with a dagger approaching to chop a head, and I fainted

The Line of Fire with Ramita Navai

Shoaib Sharifi is one of Afghanistan's greatest journalists - and has won many awards for covering his home country for the last 22 years. He's a former BBC World Service Kabul bureau chief who launched the acclaimed political debate program Open Jirga (a co-production between BBC Media Action and BBC World Service).

Shoaib is one of the few Afghan journalists who decided to stay on after the Taliban took power in August, 2021, and he's currently the country director for BBC Media Action, the BBC's international development organisation.

In part one of this extraordinary interview, Shoaib talks about his passion for journalism and why his facial hair stalled his career. He explains how he risked his own life to finally land a job by smuggling a camera into a former football stadium in Kabul to expose the Taliban’s public executions to the world.

Shoaib also discusses the challenges and dangers of reporting the truth in his home country and why he is determined to show the true face of Afghanistan to the world. Show Notes:

• Watch Shoaib’s documentary My Childhood, My Country: 20 Years in Afghanistan on ITV Hub
• The film won BAFTA Single Documentary award 2022 and is produced by Seventh Art Productions
• Follow Shoaib on Twitter @shoaibsharifi1

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