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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Lois Beckett in Los Angeles

The Taliban forced Afghan TV workers into hiding. Now they’re asking Hollywood for help

Men sit at desks in an office in front of an array of 21 television screens.
Afghan reporters of Tolo News work in the newsroom at Tolo TV station in Kabul on 11 September 2018. Photograph: Wakil Kohsar/AFP/Getty Images

For nearly two decades, Afghanistan’s TV industry developed popular hits, from medical shows and family dramas to Afghan Star, a music competition based on American Idol.

Now, nearly six months after the Taliban seized control, many Afghan television and film workers are jobless and in hiding. Some feel abandoned by TV and entertainment industry workers in other countries. A handful of former international colleagues have been fighting to get them to safety, and they say they desperately need more support. (All the names of Afghan TV workers have been changed for this article.)

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