New Zealand denied entry: New Zealand pregnant woman stranded by the Taliban

New Zealand refused entry
A pregnant New Zealand woman is stranded by the Taliban

01/30/2022, 11:11 a.m

Last summer, New Zealand journalist Charlotte Bellis traveled to Afghanistan to report on the Taliban’s takeover. When she finds out she is pregnant, she wants to return to her home country to give birth. But New Zealand rejects them – and becomes “brutally cynical”, Bellis writes.

The Taliban in Afghanistan offered help to a pregnant New Zealand journalist after New Zealand refused her entry. This was reported by Charlotte Bellis in an article for New Zealand Herald. Bliss reported on the Taliban takeover of Al Jazeera in the summer, and attracted international attention when she questioned Taliban leaders about their treatment of women and children.

In September, as she wrote in her article, she found out in Qatar that she was pregnant, even though doctors had told her that she would not be able to conceive. However, when she wanted to return to her home country soon after, she was not granted an entry permit. New Zealand has a strict Covid policy with strict entry and quarantine rules resulting in thousands of citizens abroad related.

According to Bliss, she first moved to Belgium, the home of her partner, who works as a photographer for The New York Times. However, as a New Zealander, she was not allowed to stay there for long. In her distress, Bliss said she then turned to the Taliban. Unlike the New Zealand government, radical Islamists have offered her help, even though she is not married. The two students told her, “Just tell me you’re married.” “If there’s a problem, let us know. We’re happy for you.”

“I was shocked”

Now stuck in Afghanistan, Bellis writes. Just a few days ago, she received an email from the New Zealand authorities that she could not enter New Zealand – having previously submitted 59 documents. “I was shocked,” said the journalist. “What more can I do?”

Especially given the health situation, she is now afraid of the birth of her baby, which is due in May. Due to the catastrophic humanitarian situation, many hospitals in Afghanistan lack even the most basic resources. It was only in October, while continuing to write for the New Zealand Herald, that Bellis reported on a women’s ward in Kabul where caesarean sections could not be performed and the only medicine was paracetamol wrapped in newspaper.

In her article, Bellis called it “brutal irony” that the Taliban of all people promised her help: “When the Taliban — a pregnant, unmarried woman — promise you a safe haven, you know your situation is dire.”

It appears the New Zealand government now wants to examine the issue, Minister Chris Hipkins announced in the New Zealand Herald. So far, New Zealand has successfully contained Covid-19. It has a population of five million people so far 52 people have died from or with Covid.