Beheshta Arghand, an Afghan journalist who gave an interview to the Taliban, flees the country

In the fear-filled days after the Taliban stormed Kabul, she was hailed as the brave young woman who interviewed a gunman live, giving hope that Afghan women might not lose all their freedoms.

But days later, like others who feared the wrath of the militants, Beheshta Arghand, a former news anchor with Tolo NewsShe fled the country, landing with her parents and four siblings in a sparsely furnished villa in a walled compound on the outskirts of Doha, Qatar.

In an interview, Ms. Argand, 24, spoke proudly of her interview and said she hoped the Taliban would honor their pledges to allow more openness than when they ruled the country before the US invasion 20 years ago.

“We don’t have any government now,” she said. We just hope they do what they promise. But now everyone is afraid of the Taliban.”

Ms. Argand recalled the shock she felt when the Taliban had entered Kabul and the fear that gripped the Afghan capital the next day. However, she said that she went to work to clarify the role of women in public life.

“I wanted to show the Taliban that we want to work,” she said. We want to be in the media. It is our right in society.”

Ms Argand said she was giving the news on August 17 when she felt there was a guest in the studio. I soon realized that it was Mawlawi Abdul Haq Hamad, a member of the Taliban’s media team.

She only had a few moments to prepare.

She said her producers asked her to try to debrief without challenging her guest. But as soon as she went on air, she did it anyway, and asked about the reports from the Taliban Conduct house-to-house searches in the city.

After the interview, her phone was filled with messages from friends and relatives who were both proud and scared as she directly questioned her guest.

Soon, she and her family fled, fearing that it was too dangerous to stay in Kabul.

Ms. Argan now lives in a house with no television or internet. She doesn’t know how long she will be there. She doesn’t know or where to go next.

But she dreams of going home one day to help the women.

“If I were alive,” she said, “I would do a lot for my house.” “My country needs my gel.”