Piers Morgan Grills Taliban Spokesman Over ‘Draconian’ Treatment of Afghan Girls in Controversial Interview

On Tuesday, Piers Morgan interviewed Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen on his TalkTV program, Piers Morgan Uncensored, and blasted the Taliban’s “draconian” treatment of women in Afghanistan.

The mere fact that Morgan put Shaheen on air led to headlines in the British press calling the interview “disgusting.” Morgan did not disappoint, however, in grilling the spokesman for the brutal Islamist regime’s treatment of women, an issue he clearly felt passionately about highlighting.

Morgan noted that a recent decree in Afghanistan from the “vice and virtue ministry” in Afghanistan banned women in public from “revealing more than their eyes.”

“So, whichever way you spin this, that is a draconian measure designed to suppress women more than they have been used to in the last two decades,” Morgan continued, referencing the Taliban take over of Afghanistan following the U.S. exit last summer.

Morgan pushed Shaheen further, noting that when the Taliban took over they promised to be a “different kind of Taliban” and that “women had nothing to be scared about.”

“I can’t think of anywhere else in the world that is doing this to women,” he continued after listing the diminished civil liberties women are facing in the country. “I ask you again, what part of any of this shows that the Taliban has changed?”

Shaheen responded by saying Morgan was getting his information from “media reports that are not correct.” He added that women’s property in Afghanistan is “secure, there is no problem with that.”

Shaheen went on to note that Muslim women in the U.K. also wear burqas and compared only showing the eyes to wearing a mask – an apparent reference to Covid-19 masking.

The interview eventually turned to education, where Morgan pushed Shaheen on why women are limited in their access to education under the Taliban.

“We have never said they are banned,” Shaheen claimed after noting that girls are allowed in primary schools but that the “issue of secondary school” for girls is under “consideration.”

“When you say they are under consideration, what do you mean?” Morgan shot back.

“They are not currently in school. Let them all go back to school.”

“What is there to talk about?” Morgan insisted. “A girl should be entitled to go to school in Afghanistan the same way a boy does.”

Shaheen noted that the Taliban is currently working on a “mechanism” so girls could have equal access to education as boys.

“Let them go back to school. Give them the education they deserve. Just do it!” Morgan concluded.

While it is rare to see a Taliban official on Western television, it is worth noting that Shaheen has previously appeared on Good Morning Britain — a show that Morgan once co-hosted.

Comedian Ricky Gervais weighed in on the backlash surrounding the interview when asked by a Twitter user, “What do you think about @piersmorgan interviewing the taliban tonight? #disgusting.”
Gervais responded, “I’ve lost all respect for them.”

I’ve lost all respect for them. https://t.co/SKoUq2Gtoq

— Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) May 10, 2022