Fox News Foreign Correspondent Confronts Taliban One Year After US Withdrawal: ‘Are Women Free in Afghanistan?’

One year after the U.S. withdrew troops from Afghanistan and the country fell to the Taliban, Fox News foreign correspondent Trey Yingst posed one question: “Are women free in Afghanistan?”

In a Monday segment, Yingst reported from Kabul where Taliban fighters were parading the streets and celebrating the one year anniversary of U.S. troops leaving the country. Not everyone is celebrating under Taliban rule, however, as Yingst highlighted the desperate state of many citizens.

One million children under five are “acutely malnourished,” he reported, showing footage from inside a hospital where a mother watches over her sick child. She explained that she has already lost three children.

The economy has collapsed too as the Taliban has imposed strict Islamic law, which prohibits acts like listening to music in public. Women must be covered in public and are barred from secondary education.

In an interview with Abdul Qahar Balkhi, from the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Yingst bluntly asked, “are women free in Afghanistan?”

“Of course,” Balkhi said.

“Women can’t go out in public alone at night. They can’t serve in senior government roles. They have to be covered when they go into the streets of Kabul. How can you describe this as free?” Yingst shot back.

The way Balkhi and others see it, laws that prohibit public behavior have nothing to do with freedom.

“The laws of the country regulate how people conduct themselves when in the public. That does not in any way, shape, or form mean that someone is free or not free,” he told Yingst.

Yingst reported he also spoke to Taliban fighters, each adamant defenders of the condition of the country and insistent that Afghanistan be ruled under Islamic law.

This restrictive governing style, the reporter said, has left many civilians in hiding, including American allies left behind after the U.S. withdrawal.

Watch above via Fox News