Taliban rule: WION journalist Anas Mallick abducted in Afghanistan, released after being thrashed

For WION journalist Anas Mallick and his team, Thursday was like any other normal day. He reached Kabul on Wednesday. On Friday, he was recording stock shots for news coverage linked to the first anniversary of the Taliban's rule of Afghanistan. He was discharging his duties as a journalist when a group of Taliban men abducted him and his family.

They dragged Anas and his team out of the car and thrashed them. They also handcuffed them and put blinds on their eyes.

Anas was released a day later. He has reached his home in Pakistan's Islamabad. However, his local producer and driver are still captive. The Taliban, however, has said they would be released soon. 

Anas is not able to make sense of the abduction. He said they had all the valid documents certifying they were journalists. At the time of the incident, they were just taking visuals. Their phones were also seized.

He said it was the Afghan-Taliban intelligence unit that shifted them. Apart from proving they were journalists, they had to face some really personal and uncomfortable questions, he added.

The abduction took place days after the United States eliminated al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Taliban has claimed they had no information about his presence in Kabul.