CNN Reporter Confronts Taliban Commander: 'How Will You Protect Women?'

By Andrew Stanton On 8/16/21 at 7:24 PM EDT

CNN Chief International Correspondent Clarissa Ward challenged a Taliban commander over the insurgent group's treatment of women on Monday.

"How will you protect women?" Ward asked.

"The female, the woman can continue their life and we will not say anything for them. They can go to the school. They can continue their education with Islamic hijab," he responded.

Ward, while wearing a hijab, asked, "Like I'm wearing?"

He then clarified that women would be required to wear a niqab, which is a veil worn that covers a woman's entire face except for their eyes. Ward pressed the Taliban commander, asking why women will be required to cover their faces. He said it is required by Islam.

"Because it is in Islam," he said.

Ward pushed back, "Is it in Islam, though, that you have to wear a niqab?" to which he responded, "of course."

During the broadcast, Ward pointed out a beauty salon that used to feature images of women not wearing the niqab had already been painted over.

Women in Kabul — CNN Chief Foreign Correspondent Clarissa Ward confronted a Taliban commander over the insurgent group’s treatment of women on Monday. Here, displaced Afghan women and children are seen Friday at a mosque in Kabul, Afghanistan's capital. Paula Bronstein /Getty Images

Earlier Monday, Ward was asked by the Taliban to stand to the side because she is a woman. She reported that she has seen fewer women outside, but those who were dressed more conservatively. She also reported that female Afghan journalists are "petrified."

Despite claims by the Taliban that Afghanistan would not return to the brutal rule the group implemented when they previously led the nation, many women are fearing the rights they have won—including getting an education and working—may be all but completely eliminated as the insurgent group has seized control in the nation.

The fundamentalist group ruled the country for five years until the U.S.-led invasion in 2001. They banned girls from getting an education and women from working. Women were not allowed to travel outside the home without men, and public executions were carried out for women accused of adultery, according to the AP.