Only days after the U.S. military withdrew from Afghanistan last August, the world watched in awe as the Taliban swiftly retook control. Desperate and visceral images of Afghans clinging to evacuation planes, lifting children over Kabul airport’s barbed wire fences, and stories of crisis dominated news coverage for weeks. On February 22, the CJF welcomes a panel of storytellers who were there before and during the takeover, to share their insights into the challenges, safety issues and nuances of covering this humanitarian crisis.
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Reporting on the Ground in Afghanistan
22 February 2022 @ 1:00 pm
Featured speakers are Global News journalists Stewart Bell and Jeff Semple, who captured moments of loss and sacrifice after the Taliban had swept to power; VICE World News journalist Hind Hassan, who spoke with Taliban leaders in advance of the takeover; and visual storyteller Kiana Hayeri, who captured the transition through powerful photographs. Leading this discussion is Nil Köksal, host of CBC’s World Report and former foreign correspondent based in Istanbul, Turkey.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERS
Stewart Bell is a national online investigative journalist at Global News. He is the author of three non-fiction books, most recently Bayou of Pigs, about a far-right coup plot in the Caribbean. In 2018, he won an RTDNA award for investigative journalism. His magazine article about child soldiers, “Guerrilla Girls,” was awarded the Amnesty International prize. He won the South Asian Journalists Association award for his coverage of the Sri Lankan civil war, and his Saturday Night article “The Terrorist Next Door” was a finalist for the National Magazine Award and was made into a television movie. He received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for his writing on terrorism. @StewGlobal
Hind Hassan is an award-winning international correspondent for VICE News covering conflicts, humanitarian crises and the biggest developing stories from around the world. Since joining VICE News, Hassan has covered wars and uprisings across the globe including the post-ISIS legacy in Syria, Lebanon’s blast demonstrations and Iraq’s anti-corruption protests where her team witnessed and documented human rights abuses. Hassan embedded with the Taliban in Afghanistan just months before the group’s takeover of Kabul and travelled to the front line of the battle between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. Her team became the first journalists to independently confirm the use of cluster munitions against civilians in Azerbaijan. She was also on the ground in Jerusalem and Gaza ahead of the military offensive on the Strip. Prior to joining VICE News, Hassan worked as a reporter for Sky News. Hassan is based in London. @HindHassanNews
Kiana Hayeri is an Iranian-Canadian photographer based in Kabul, Afghanistan. She is a Senior TED Fellow and a regular contributor to The New York Times and National Geographic. In 2020, she received the Tim Hetherington Visionary Award and was named the 6th recipient of the James Foley Award for Conflict Reporting. In 2021, Kiana received the Robert Capa Gold Medal for her photographic series “Where Prison is Kind of a Freedom,” documenting the lives of Afghan women in Herat Prison. @kianahayeri
Jeff Semple is a Senior Correspondent and Video Journalist with Global National News based in Toronto. He has reported from more than 30 countries across five continents, covering terrorist attacks in Europe, the refugee crisis in the Middle East and the Olympic Games in Russia, Brazil and South Korea. Jeff has reported from the frontlines of the fight against ISIS in Iraq, the UN’s deadliest peacekeeping mission in Mali, and was recently deployed to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Jeff’s reports have been recognised by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, the Radio Television Digital News Association, the Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Online Publishing Awards and Apple Podcasts. Jeff is also the host of the ‘Rising’ podcast series, which was the #1 podcast in Canada during its first season in 2019. @JeffSempleGN
ABOUT THE HOST
Stewart Bell is a national online investigative journalist at Global News. He is the author of three non-fiction books, most recently Bayou of Pigs, about a far-right coup plot in the Caribbean. In 2018, he won an RTDNA award for investigative journalism. His magazine article about child soldiers, “Guerrilla Girls,” was awarded the Amnesty International prize. He won the South Asian Journalists Association award for his coverage of the Sri Lankan civil war, and his Saturday Night article “The Terrorist Next Door” was a finalist for the National Magazine Award and was made into a television movie. He received the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal for his writing on terrorism. @StewGlobal
Hind Hassan is an award-winning international correspondent for VICE News covering conflicts, humanitarian crises and the biggest developing stories from around the world. Since joining VICE News, Hassan has covered wars and uprisings across the globe including the post-ISIS legacy in Syria, Lebanon’s blast demonstrations and Iraq’s anti-corruption protests where her team witnessed and documented human rights abuses. Hassan embedded with the Taliban in Afghanistan just months before the group’s takeover of Kabul and travelled to the front line of the battle between Armenia and Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh. Her team became the first journalists to independently confirm the use of cluster munitions against civilians in Azerbaijan. She was also on the ground in Jerusalem and Gaza ahead of the military offensive on the Strip. Prior to joining VICE News, Hassan worked as a reporter for Sky News. Hassan is based in London. @HindHassanNews
Kiana Hayeri is an Iranian-Canadian photographer based in Kabul, Afghanistan. She is a Senior TED Fellow and a regular contributor to The New York Times and National Geographic. In 2020, she received the Tim Hetherington Visionary Award and was named the 6th recipient of the James Foley Award for Conflict Reporting. In 2021, Kiana received the Robert Capa Gold Medal for her photographic series “Where Prison is Kind of a Freedom,” documenting the lives of Afghan women in Herat Prison. @kianahayeri
Jeff Semple is a Senior Correspondent and Video Journalist with Global National News based in Toronto. He has reported from more than 30 countries across five continents, covering terrorist attacks in Europe, the refugee crisis in the Middle East and the Olympic Games in Russia, Brazil and South Korea. Jeff has reported from the frontlines of the fight against ISIS in Iraq, the UN’s deadliest peacekeeping mission in Mali, and was recently deployed to Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Jeff’s reports have been recognised by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television, the Radio Television Digital News Association, the Canadian Medical Association, the Canadian Online Publishing Awards and Apple Podcasts. Jeff is also the host of the ‘Rising’ podcast series, which was the #1 podcast in Canada during its first season in 2019. @JeffSempleGN
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