Taliban finds my drone when I try to leave AFGHANISTAN 🇦🇫 |S8, EP91

So they found my drone.

And then they were like, this is a drone.

I said, yes.

Kunduz, Afghanistan Season 8 - Eps. 91

Good morning, Internet. It is 7:15 in the morning and welcome back to the channel.

Welcome here to Kunduz in Afghanistan.

I was just served my breakfast here in my room.

So this is for breakfast.

I have three yellow eggs.

I don't know how they got them yellow.

And um some tea, some bread and this is salt.

I promise you it's just salt.

This is where I am right now.

And today is border crossing day.

I'm going to ride to Tajikistan.

I'm leaving Afghanistan and I hope to ride to the capital of Tajikistan which is Dushanbe.

Are we moving yet?

This is the slowest elevator in Afghanistan

We are descending to the centre of the Earth

Shall I say something to him?

Wait, what was his name again?

Come on, think

* stares into void*

Mohammad?

Just ask his name again

Come on, do it

Too late, now it's awkward

Just keep looking at the floor

Thank God

Bye.

Okay.

Let's go.

Turns out that this place where I was staying was again a wedding venue.

That explains a little bit more this strange room that I had.

I suppose.

Anyway, they uh..

After I checked into my room, they came knocking on my door and said

We we want to move your bike to a safer place.

I was like, okay.

And then uh yeah, we put Frankie in the elevator and brought it to the fifth floor.

Which was under construction.

But looked like it was going to be wedding hall.

And uh..

That's where Frankie spent the night.

Very safe.

Okay, I am mentally preparing for a border crossing today.

After I leave the chaos of Kunduz.

I am going to..

Ride about 50 kilometers to the border.

With Tajikistan.

7:50.

Yeah, I'll be good in time because I think the border on the Afghanistan side only opens at 9:00 anyway.

So..

I will arrive around 9:00 I would say.

A lot of people.

Just have to pay attention.

A lot of tuk tuks.

So yeah, that means I am leaving Afghanistan.

And uh..

I thought it was quite an intense journey.

I did get what I came here for.

And I'm glad that I got the opportunity to speak to some locals.

Both men and women.

Who I could ask, you know, how life is now like for them under Taliban rule.

And we could have conversations about it.

I could not film this.

It's not safe for them.

And I didn't want to mention it earlier also.

To just make absolutely sure that nobody that I spoke to could get in any sort of trouble because of me.

It is too dangerous to publicly talk about these things.

So, I am sad that I cannot share these stories with you.

Because I do think that is very important too but..

I think their safety has to come first.

Other than that.

Yeah, for me personally.

It has been a little intense.

I thought travelling here is pretty intense, you know.

Seeing all the Taliban everywhere.

Is.. I don't know. I don't get used to it.

To be honest.

It feels very surreal still.

And..

You know, being brought into that command center and being surrounded by 30 40 Taliban

is something that I will not forget.

How that feels like.

And because the thing is with these guys.

They just carry these big guns all the time, right?

So when they took me into that office to meet the commander.

You know, they're all just carrying those guns in that office, you know.

They're just like sitting there casually with like AK-47s on their lap, you know.

While asking you where you going and what you doing in Afghanistan.

Let me fill up.

Spend some of my rupees that I have left.

Uh petrol? - Petrol.

Okay.

Uh full.

Thank you [Pashto]

Tajikistan.

Huh? - I go to Tajikistan.

Tajikistan. - Me. Holland. Holland.

Afghanistan in..

Bye.

So, what was I saying?

Yeah, dealing with the Taliban.

Yeah, and what I also found difficult is  that.. I still need to stay nice and polite.

Which I think I was.

And a lot of the time they were also really friendly to me, you know.

Offering me food, offering me water.

Either way.

I showed my face to many of them.

They all saw..

A woman alone.

Doing this type of thing on a motorbike.

Which I think is a good reminder..

Of what women are capable of.

If you don't deny them their freedom.

Now it's time to leave.

I hope it will be a smooth exit.

When I entered Afghanistan, they were going through my phone.

So I hope they they won't do that now.

Obviously.

His side stand is out.

Hey sir sir.

Your..

Okay. Is it me?

Or do the sheep in Afghanistan look like they all had a BBL?

Like what's up with their butts?

This is not a normal sheep.

Come on.

Why do they look so funny?

All right.

This is actually the flattest I've seen in Afghanistan.

The entire time I was here, it was mountainous.

And now I've just ridden out of Kunduz and it's flat.

Anyway, I'm going to take away my cameras now.

I'm about 10 km from the border.

And as you know, normally I always film, but this is a little bit  of a different story.

I don't want to rock up at the Afghanistan side with my cameras exposed.

And risk that at the last moment they figure out that I have a YouTube channel.

Obviously, I have told nobody in Afghanistan that I have a YouTube channel.

Because it goes without saying that everything that I've been filming.

They might not enjoy that so much.

So, for my own safety.

I keep this obviously quiet.

And I don't want to risk that they find  out at the last moment.

And I don't know.

Delete all my footage or worse.

The Association's Mission to Afghanistan has reported that the Taliban authorities have arbitrarily detained journalists 256 times.

Since taking control of the country 3 years ago.

The United Nations is now urging the Taliban to ensure greater protection for the media.

UN and its human rights office noted that journalists in Afghanistan..

Continue to work under extremely challenging conditions.

In mid August 2021, the fall of Kabul was simply a turning point.

The Taliban were already in power once,

but in those 20 years when they weren't in power.

It has to be said that a very vibrant and diverse media landscape was able to develop in Afghanistan.

It was still a dangerous job to work  as a journalist in Afghanistan.

The Taliban completely destroyed this  really vibrant media landscape.

So, I'm going to put them away and then I'll see you on the Tajikistan side.

Wish me luck.

5 members of the Taliban meticulously searched all of my luggage.

They found all my cameras, audio recording devices and my drone.

I did it!

I did it!

I'm in the Tajikistan.

That was a rather nerve-wracking border crossing.

Well, it started off nerve-wracking because the Taliban searched everything.

I've never had such an extensive search of my stuff on my motorbike in all my travels.

They opened every single bag, took out everything.

So, they found my drone.

And they were like, this is a drone.

I said, yes.

But I'm not flying it in Afghanistan.

Which is almost true. I barely flew it, obviously.

And I thought, okay, they're going to take it. They're going to confiscate it.

And then they just put it back.

And then on the Tajikistan side it..

It took a long time, but it was so funny because they couldn't do the temporary import of Frankie.

Because the printer was well, they just got a new printer.

And it wasn't installed and they didn't  know how to do it.

So, and they were really busy with other things as well.

So, I ended up installing the printer.

So, I'm like reading the manual, putting in like that CD drive thing to install the driver of the printer.

So, anyway, I did that and then printer was working and then it was quick.

So, yeah, it is extremely hot here.

But I have 170 km to go to Dushanbe.

And if my memory serves me right, Dushanbe is at higher elevation.

So, I should be climbing.

So, then it won't be as hot, I hope.

Anyway, so welcome to Tajikistan!

Round two!

I was here with Basanti. That means that this time I'm going to ride a different route.

Obviously, I'm not going to do exactly the same thing what I did with Basanti.

I see some mountains.

That is excellent.

Ah, I can't wait until I start climbing.

It has to be close to 40° C.

And I've climbed to 1,200 m.

It's a lot better here.

I am entering Dushanbe.

Hi.

Thank you.

Bye!

That was just the loveliest man.

Really.

So, first I have an amazing meal.

It was my first plov again.

I'll have plenty of more of that.

It's like the typical dish in  the region.

It's kind of like a bit of an oily rice with vegetables and pieces of meat.

And then I want to pay and then he's like, no, no.

He was so adamant. He refused my money.

And then as I'm leaving, he gives me another bottle.

They serve the meal with like a kind of like a pear, I think it's a pear juice.

It's really nice. And he gave me like a one and a half liter bottle of it.  

So nice and delicious.

They got all these Chinese electric taxis.

See the brand of the car..

Is even written in Chinese.

I cannot remember seeing these..

Last time I was in Tajikistan.

Anyone a San Sebastiano?

And I have a place to stay.

Very nice room.

Uh, it looks like a very comfortable bed.

No wedding venue this time.

I'm pretty tired.

Um, I mean the border crossing in total it took me 3 hours.

Which is really not bad but it was just a little bit stressful leaving Afghanistan.

And then yeah, having the Taliban search like all my things.

Um, I was really worried, you know, that they were going to ask more questions or wanting to see footage or anything like that.

Anyway, so yeah, I'm going to end this video now.

That was it for today.

I really hope you liked this video.

If you did, please give a big thumbs up, subscribe down below, and then I'll see you in the next video.