CNN's Clarissa Ward is on the ground bravely covering the chaos in Kabul amid the U.S. withdrawal and on Monday — for whatever reason — remarked that the Taliban seemed "friendly" despite their chants of "Death to America," as Leah reported yesterday:
It was déjà vu for those watching CNN’s “New Day” on Monday as the network’s chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward reported on the deteriorating situation in Kabul, Afghanistan.
While the scene and situation were entirely different from the “fiery but mostly peaceful” protests in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last August, the network’s description of the events taking place were quite similar.
As scenes of Taliban members holding up weapons and chanting appear on screen, Ward notes that they’re chanting “‘Death to America, but they seem friendly at the same time.”
“It’s utterly bizarre,” she added.
In a case of life-comes-at-you-fast, a CNN report from Ward on Wednesday revealed that — despite her "utterly bizarre" situation with the "friendly" Taliban earlier — fighters tried to pistol-whip her producer.
"The most frightening moment for our team came when our producer... was taking some video on his iPhone," Ward explained, when "two Taliban fighters just came up with their pistols, and they were ready to pistol-whip him and we had to intervene and scream" before another Taliban fighter stopped the attack by explaining the CNN crew were journalists.
CNN Monday: "They're just chanting 'Death to America,' but they seem friendly at the same time."
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) August 18, 2021
CNN Today: "Our producer...was taking some video on his iPhone. Two Taliban fighters just came up with their pistols and they were ready to pistol whip him." pic.twitter.com/MkyUQZOaXR
Ward continued by explaining the nearly impossible task for those seeking to get to Kabul's Hamid Karzai International Airport and get out of Afghanistan after watching citizens try to get through or around Taliban checkpoints. "This was mayhem, this was nuts, this was impossible for an ordinary civilian even if they had their paperwork," she described. "No way they’re running that gauntlet — no way they’re going to be able to navigate that," she concluded somberly.