Pregnant journalist turned Taliban after being shut down from New Zealand

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A pregnant New Zealand journalist said she had to turn to the Taliban for help after she was banished from her home country due to strict coronavirus restrictions.

Charlotte Bellis has submitted 59 documents to New Zealand officials in Afghanistan in an effort to secure an emergency repatriation since learning she was pregnant in September.

Ms. Bellis, who worked for Al Jazeera, said it was a “brutal irony” that she once questioned the Taliban about their treatment of women and that she is now asking the same questions to her government.

“When the Taliban – a pregnant and unmarried woman – offers you sanctuary, you know your situation is spoiled,” she wrote in her column in the New Zealand Herald.

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New Zealand has imposed one of the world’s strictest border control policies in an effort to combat Covid-19.

Its borders have been closed to foreigners since March 2020.

The government has postponed plans for a phased reopening from mid-January to the end of February due to fears of a possible outbreak of Omicron in neighboring Australia.

Ms. Bellis said her “miracle” daughter became pregnant after attending the Taliban’s first press conference since they came to power after the fall of Kabul.

Speaking to 1News about her situation, Ms. Bellis asked: “To the New Zealand government, I ask what you want me to do? I didn’t do anything wrong, I got pregnant and I’m a New Zealander.”

“At what point have we gotten so caught up in these bases that we can’t see that they are Kiwis in need of help and need to go home?”

In the column, she said that she found out she was pregnant while in Qatar with her partner and freelance photographer Jim Hoylebrook.

After failing to attempt to return to New Zealand, the couple moved to Belgium but were unable to stay as long as she was not a resident.

She said the only other country that could grant a couple a visa is Afghanistan.

Senior Taliban officials gave her their blessing for her return to the country.

“Just tell people you’re married and if it escalates, call us. She said they told her.

Chris Hepkins, New Zealand’s minister for Covid-19 response, said he had asked officials to check whether the correct procedures had been followed in Ms Bellis’ case.

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