Typically, her posts showed her cooking or exploring Kabul with her friends, with bright clothes and cheerful music in the background. But even before Sadeqi started talking, the discouraged expression on his face told viewers that this was different.
“Because we are not allowed to work or leave our home, we all had to record one last video for you,” he began. “And through this video say goodbye to everyone.”
She told viewers she was too scared to walk down the street and asked them to pray for her. “Life in Kabul has become very difficult, especially for those who used to be free and happy,” he said. “I wish it was a bad dream, I wish we could wake up someday,” he added, pausing sometimes to stifle tears. “But I know it’s not possible … and it’s a reality we’re over.”
Sadeqi was in his final year of study at a journalism institute in Kabul. He had recently joined the Afghan channel Afghan Insider, whose videos have garnered more than 24 million views. They gave a weekly insight into the lives of young content creators, who had been educated in the midst of the relative security of a post-Taliban era. They also allowed Sadeqi and others to support their families, following their own aspirations.
“He was working to earn enough to pay for daily expenses and education,” Sadeqi said in his latest video. “Most families in the city are just waiting for (one) meal to survive the day.”
His death has shaken a large community of young youtubers who have enjoyed the freedoms given to Afghans in the two decades since the last Taliban regime withdrew, many of whom do not even remember the days before the 11/11.
And he shone a devastating new light in his latest video: an exciting eight-minute farewell to those who had seen him work. “Dear friends! We are both mentally and physically affected and we have become vulnerable,” he said. Sadeqi used to host videos with her friend, Rohina Afshar, but the couple was forced to record their latest messages separately, for fear of leaving their home.
Even before the attack on the airport, many vloggers had gone dark. They include Afshar, who confirmed the death of her friend on CNN.
“I was the only breadwinner in the family because my dad is dead and my brother isn’t old enough to work,” he told CNN. “With the salary I received from the YouTube channel I paid all our expenses. Now I’m unemployed, I’m too scared to leave and we have no income. I don’t know how we can survive this situation.
“Apart from the financial difficulties, I am very worried because a lot of people know my face when I worked for the media,” he said. “I’ve been hearing rumors that certain groups identify girls who worked for media outlets like me so they could chase them. I don’t feel at all safe.”
Afshar, who said her life has been “turned upside down” in a few days, reflects the despair of countless women and girls in Afghanistan. “In the last ten days or so that I’ve been home, I’ve been totally depressed,” he said. “I do not know what to do”.
YouTube has become a prominent platform in Afghanistan in recent years, shedding light on the country’s nascent democracy and providing a valuable platform for aspiring journalists like Sadeqi and Afshar.
But Khawja Samiullah Sediqi, who worked at Afghan Insider, is now afraid of those who produced videos for her and other channels.
“In the last two years, dozens of young and talented Afghan boys and girls have started working for YouTube channels, not only to make a living, but to find a platform to prove themselves and the progress they had made. made the Afghans in the last two decades “. he told CNN.
“But in the last few weeks everything has changed,” he said. “We stopped producing new things. We are afraid of being targeted, intimidated or harmed.”
One of the channel’s reporters was physically attacked while reporting from Kabul airport, he said. “We are too afraid to use our right to speak freely and we are not sure of tomorrow.”
And Sediqi said he is concerned that the global situation of young content creators, spread across the new media landscape, may be overlooked by the global community.
“I know that many journalists working for traditional media have been given help and support by their employers and other organizations that protect journalists, but no one has paid attention to us,” he said. “Working for social media platforms like YouTube is somehow a new phenomenon in Afghanistan, but the nature of our work is the same as any other television channel.”
“We have become a bridge between Afghans living abroad and poor people living in the country,” a female youtuber colleague from another channel told CNN. “We’re in a difficult situation. They shouldn’t leave us like that.”
CNN does not name the YouTuber, who, like Sadeqi, is about twenty years old, for security reasons. “Yesterday it was Najma’s turn. Maybe tomorrow will be mine and the next day, another girl,” he said. “Najma had found my number from somewhere and sent me a text message (to ask me) if I was okay. I still have these text messages … even so far I can’t believe it ‘ hagi anat “.
“I feel so desperate; all my dreams were crushed. I can no longer even help my younger siblings, (and) my mother, who also can’t go to work now,” she added of her life under the domination of the Taliban. “We’re in a difficult situation. They shouldn’t leave us like that.”
“The current Taliban are different from the previous ones as they now have access to smartphones and have access to the internet,” he said. “Some of them will probably be able to recognize me easily … since the day they entered Kabul, I haven’t left home at all.”