'Journo Not Flying to Cancun': CNN Slams US Senator for Afghanistan Tweet

"Is there an enemy of America for whom CNN WON'T cheerlead? (In mandatory burkas, no less.)," Ted Cruz had tweeted.

News network CNN, on Tuesday, 17 August, castigated United States (US) senator Ted Cruz for a tweet attacking the network over its coverage of the Afghanistan crisis.

Retweeting a clip of CNN’s chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward, Cruz had written:

"Is there an enemy of America for whom CNN WON'T cheerlead? (In mandatory burkas, no less.).”

In response to this, CNN’s communication team hit out at Cruz with a reference to reports, from earlier this year, of Cruz flying to Cancun, Mexico, amid a weather crisis in his state.

"Rather than running off to Cancun in tough times, Clarissa Ward is risking her life to tell the world what's happening. That's called bravery. Instead of RTing a conspiracy theorist's misleading soundbite, perhaps your time would be better spent helping Americans in harm's way. (sic)”

CNN Communications

Rather than running off to Cancun in tough times, @clarissaward is risking her life to tell the world what's happening. That’s called bravery. Instead of RTing a conspiracy theorist’s misleading soundbite, perhaps your time would be better spent helping Americans in harm’s way.

— CNN Communications (@CNNPR) August 16, 2021

CNN’S CLARISSA WARD REFUTES OTHER OBSERVATIONS

Recently two photographs of the CNN journalist Clarissa Ward have been doing the rounds of the internet. In the first one, she is seen with no head covering, while in the second one she is donning an abaya.

Social-media users have claimed that these two pictures depict the contrast between the pre-Taliban and post-Taliban life in Afghanistan.

However, refuting these observations, Ward said: “There is a difference but not quite this stark.”

“This meme is inaccurate. The top photo is inside a private compound. The bottom is on the streets of Taliban held Kabul. I always wore a head scarf on the street in Kabul previously, though not with hair fully covered and abbaya. So there is a difference but not quite this stark.”

Clarissa Ward

This meme is inaccurate. The top photo is inside a private compound. The bottom is on the streets of Taliban held Kabul. I always wore a head scarf on the street in Kabul previously, though not w/ hair fully covered and abbaya. So there is a difference but not quite this stark. pic.twitter.com/BmIRFFSdSE

— Clarissa Ward (@clarissaward) August 16, 2021

BACKGROUND

The Taliban on Tuesday indicated that it would not make full burqa compulsory for women.

Speaking to Britain's Sky News, Suhail Shaheen, spokesman for Taliban's political office in Doha said: "The burqa is not the only hijab (headscarf) that (can) be observed, there are different types of hijab not limited to burqa."

Taliban seized control of Afghanistan on Sunday evening, with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani fleeing the war-torn country.

Meanwhile, swarms of people attempted to escape the impending Taliban rule, as is apparent from the visuals of panic, fear, and chaos that emerged from the crowded airport of Kabul.