Dawa Khan Meenapal talks of Taliban kidnap ordeal

Dawa Khan Meenapal, RFE/RL Radio Free Afghanistan correspondent, talks to the radio station about his recent kidnap ordeal at the hands of the Taliban in Zabul Province on the road between Kabul and Kandahar. During his captivity he says he was treated fairly and that his captors were listeners (and fans) to his reports,

I had gradually discovered that many of my captors were avid Radio Free Afghanistan (RFA) listeners. Many people in that southern region listen to our broadcasts, and the Taliban in particular. They never complained of any one-sidedness in RFA’s coverage, I would note, although they frequently lamented that “the media” did not give them fair coverage.
During our captivity, local commanders repeatedly told me that their leaders wanted us to remember that we should always be independent journalists. I told them that we are independent journalists and our radio is independent with a policy of fairness. We follow internationally established principles of [balanced] journalism. And we will keep doing so forever — again and again. link