“DISGRACE!” Piers Morgan SLAMS Travel YouTubers Promoting ‘Taliban Tourism’

0:00This episode is brought to you by Palmolive. Family time isn't just the big moments. It's weeknight dinners, sitting around the table, everyone talking all at once. So when the plates are empty and the sink is full, use Palmolive Ultra. Palmolive's most powerful formula removes up to 99.9 % of grease, leaving your dishes sparkling clean. And the new convenient pump makes cleaning even easier, so you can spend less time tackling dishes and more time together. Shop now at palmolive.com. We have one message from Amalika. Welcome to Afghanistan. Women are out in the streets. They're out and about.

0:36We have more rights than men.

0:38Piers Morgan:Why on earth would you peddle such delusional, disingenuous crap to the world? It's easy to look at it from just a single perspective. What did you see that you broadcast to the world on your channel? The women were very happy from what we saw. In their family homes? In their family homes, yeah. But you've been? Have I been? Women being happy, being locked up in their homes in Afghanistan. One of the reasons I became a journalist, I find it quite emotional listening. Now the tide of journalism is changing. You're not doing journalism, Arab. Do me a bloody favor, mate. The attitude of these talibros.

1:19Piers Morgan:I don't agree with any of these things, of course, but... Oh, bro, you're a talibro and you put women in cages, don't you? Didn't you say to a young girl back in your cage, in one of your videos? I clearly sargassed them. Are you opposed to the radicalisation of young children? Of course. This is from your trip entitled The Young Taliban Train Me For War.

1:43Piers Morgan:The US State Department and the UK's Foreign Office could not be clearer. Do not travel to Afghanistan for any reason. Ever since the disastrous US withdrawal, media coverage has understood to be focused on the rapid rollback of rights in the atrocious plight of women under Taliban rule. The Taliban, however, thinks we've got it all wrong. Taliban-linked social media accounts have been amplifying this promotional video, which aims to persuade US tourists to swap Cancun for Kabul. We have one message from America. Welcome to Afghanistan.

2:19What's up, Yusuf?

2:32Oh, it's not even on safety right now.

2:40Ten pound robin fat. . .

2:54Piers Morgan:Probably worth reminding ourselves as we watch that promo video, it's now 1 ,396 days since the Taliban banned teenage girls from going to school and 936 days since the Taliban banned women from going to university. So is tourism really a viable means of reviving a desolate economy in a country scarred by decades of war? Was it just whitewashing the Taliban? A rising number of adventurous content creators, dubbed Tally Bros, think it's the former. Well, joining me now is Yalda Hakim, who's a presenter of the world on Sky News, and three YouTubers who've all spent time in Afghanistan. The Lebanese-American adventure traveler, who calls himself Arab, the travel YouTuber, Harry Jaggard, and the Canadian YouTuber Nolan Samyur for the channel Seal On Tour.

3:42Piers Morgan:Well, welcome to all of you. Let me start with you, Arab, if I may. Do you want to give us your actual name or is that the name you prefer to use? I mean, I took over the word Arab across the majority of social medias by being called Arab, so I think that's a powerful responsibility and we'll go by that name. OK, well, I want to play a clip that you gave the world. Let's take a look at this. Got a big, big ass machine gun here. Follow me along this journey as I sit with suicide bombers, generals, scholars, and the protectors of Sharia law as they try to convert me to a jihadi warrior for the next seven days.

4:24Piers Morgan:I think it's time. Time for what? I think it's time for the Pledge of Allegiance, my friend. Pledge of Allegiance? Are you ready? As I sleep in their homes by standing on my beliefs but respecting the culture, I will put all biases aside to document the Taliban from a perspective of humanity and earn respect amongst its elders. Guys, this is insane. I'm surrounded by little kid Taliban. Women are out in the streets. They're out and about. The whole they don't have rights thing here. We've just learned that they have more rights than men. Women can travel to Afghanistan. AND WOMEN WILL BE SAFE IF THEY TRAVEL TO AFGHANISTAN.

5:04Piers Morgan:MY QUESTION FOR YOU, I SAY THIS WITH ALL DUE RESPECT, BUT WHY ON EARTH WOULD YOU PEDDLE SUCH DELUSIONAL, DISINGENUOUS CRACK TO THE WORLD GIVEN THE STATISTICS I JUST READ OUT TO YOU? BY THE WAY, I ONLY KNOW THOSE STATISTICS BECAUSE YALDA, WHO WAS BORN IN KABUL, ACTUALLY PROMOTES THESE FIGURES ON A REGULAR BASIS TO UPDATE THE WORLD ABOUT WHAT IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING TO WOMEN THERE. SO MY QUESTION FOR YOU IS, WHY be part of the Taliban's propaganda machine? What's in it for you? You know, it's easy to look at it from just a single perspective, but as travellers, as travel YouTubers, what we tend to do is we go to places and we try to see the humanity in it all in order to bridge a gap of peace through the humour, through the humanisation, through being able to talk to people from different cultures if we constantly peddle the same sort of narratives that are always pushed on western media what then tends to happen is what you're seeing happen in the world right now where everything is being bombed by everyone and everything and that's not really what we want to do now because of the power of the internet and the ability to hold the entire universe in your hand you have travel YouTubers spawning from all walks of life, influencers who are now using this little device to start documenting their lives.

6:27And they're seeing that this whole news narrative that we've been pushed our entire lives is false because you attract what it is that you put out into the world. And so if you're going into these places and you are coming from a lens of coming to enjoy this place experience it etc you'll get a completely different thing than if you're coming just to be

6:51Piers Morgan:clear all right look i'm sorry just to interrupt you but just to be clear did you see girls going to school did you see women going to university did you see women playing sport at representative level what did you see that you broadcast to the world on your channel we did go to schools we did go into family homes where the women were very happy from what we saw in their family homes in In their family homes, yeah. They have a different society, okay? Maybe their culture... Well, you don't think they want to go to school and university? They don't want to. They're all quite happy. In many different places in the world, many women want many things, right?

7:27Piers Morgan:I'm just asking you, in your experience in Afghanistan with the Taliban, your experience was women are quite happy to be stuck at home, unable to go to school or university. That's your takeaway from the Taliban regime. When you want to word it like that to sensationalize it... It's true. It's true. It's actually true. Those are facts. Right, but you've been? Have I been? Yeah. No, but funnily enough, Yalda has. Let me bring Yalda in here. Yalda, just for those who don't know your story, I do, but just very quickly summarise you were born in Kabul. What happened to you? Well, Piers, I find it sort of quite extraordinary, actually, and frankly quite emotional listening to Arab or Addison, whatever you call yourself, speak there about women being happy, being locked up in their homes in Afghanistan.

8:19One of the reasons I became a journalist is because I, as a young girl, growing up in Australia, and my family were pushed out of Afghanistan because of the Soviet invasion of the country, I saw what happened to young Afghan girls during Taliban 1.0. The fact that they weren't allowed to go to school, the fact that no one knew in the outside world. And you're absolutely right, Arab, when you talk about having mobile phones now where these things can be documented. So today's Taliban is frankly no different to the Taliban of the 1990s. But the difference is we now know what they're doing. We can now document the fact that they aren't allowing girls to go to school.

9:03I myself come from a position of privilege because I was able to be educated in the West. My family raised me in Australia and I became a journalist because one of the reasons was because of what I saw Afghan girls go through in Afghanistan. But the shtick here for these people, Piers, and frankly, it is a shtick, go to dangerous places and glorify what's going on there and frankly, because it's not a hellhole they have to live in.

9:30Piers Morgan:Yeah, I mean, I just find it incredible, Ara, but you were surrounded by men and you don't seem to understand what's actually happening there because they don't want you to understand. Or worse, you totally understand. But there's no money in it for you in telling the actual truth. The money is in being part of the Taliban propaganda machine. We've all got these guys wrong. They're the nicest people you'll ever meet. They gave me a nice meal. They took me to meet their women in the homes. Do you not understand that you've been used here? One thing that I've in common with Harry and Megan is that we all value privacy.

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10:46Piers Morgan:If you care about privacy and you want fewer spam calls, fewer junk emails, and a reduced risk of identity theft, this is a smart move. We've teamed up to give you a 60 % discount on an annual plan at incogni.com slash peers. Use code peers when you check out. That's incogni.com slash peers, P-I-E-R-S. Use code peers when you check out. In a way, of course, you are used. Yeah, because you have a platform and you have the ability to shift perspective. And that's why we do what we do. Now, you might look at you go, OK, you're humanizing and you're putting you're glorifying. No, since the beginning of time in media, there have been people that go to places.

11:30and now the tide of journalism is changing. Old journalism is no longer a thing. New journalism is going through...

11:37Piers Morgan:You're not doing journalism, Arab. Do me a bloody favour, mate. You're not doing... I've been to Haiti and interviewed the top overlords in Haiti. You're a travel PR for the Taliban. I've been to the top favela leaders in... Whoop-de-doo. Whoop-de-doo. A journalist goes to Afghanistan, mate, and they report the truth. It's journalism, but the reality is that other journalists have never been able to reach these top levels. You're not a journalist. They always come in with some sort of specific... I'm sure if I said to the Taliban, hey, guys, what I'm going to do is come and say what a lovely place it is and what nice guys you are and why the women all love to be at home and not at school and university or playing sport, I'm sure they'd go, oh, that's great, Piers.

12:19Piers Morgan:Great. Come to our country and we'll take good care of you. That's not what I said. Let me bring in Harry. That's not what I said at all. Well, you pretty much did say it. I saw the video. Harry, you're English. You went to Afghanistan in 2023. You say you found the Taliban to be shockingly friendly. Let's take a look at a clip of you there with a local Afghan child. What do they want to be when they're older? Mujahid. Huh? Mujahid. Mujahid? Oh, wow. He wants to be Mujahid. I remember that word. Wow, amazing. I said the war is over. Why do you want to be Mujahid? Does that mean soldier? Yeah, soldier.

12:52Oh, wow. Is he educated in normal other subjects? No. At the madrasah, they study all religion, no mathematics, no science. Nothing? Nothing. No computer. Wow. So that's all they do? They just read the Quran all day? Yeah. That's super interesting.

13:10Piers Morgan:Super interesting, and they were shockingly friendly. Didn't see many women there. Harry, were they all being happy at home, or what was the deal? I feel like you've taken a lot of content and you've just nitpicked, like, the only negative interaction I've had. You posted it, not me. Yeah, but there was... I'm not here to post every single minute of content you've ever put up. I've chosen an example of something which, a little bit like Arab, I think what the trouble is with you Tali bros, which is a disgusting term anyway, is that what you're doing, and you may not even realise it, or maybe you do.

13:44Piers Morgan:Like I say, I don't know. Only you know your motivation. But you're going in there saying the Taliban are shockingly friendly. The Taliban are shockingly disgusting. They're one of the most repressive regimes, particularly for women, that we've ever seen. And it arguably, second time round, they're worse than they were the first time round. And as a result, women are trapped in the home. They cannot go out. They cannot go to school. They cannot go to university. They cannot represent their country as sport. The whole thing's a bloody disgrace. And these new Taliban bros dancing around with the Taliban like this is all a bit of a party.

14:15Piers Morgan:Like it's all a bit of fun, Harry. So justify yourself. So if I was to not go to a country because I don't agree with some of the rules and regulations. Do you think you're a journalist too or not? I'm not saying that. What do you think you are? You're interrupting me, Piers. But what are you? I'm a YouTuber. I'm a content creator. I just travel and I document what I see. I went to Afghanistan with zero agenda. I'm not working for anyone. I work for myself, I had zero agenda, and I filmed what I saw. And what I saw was they were nice to me. Were they nice to me for a reason because I'm making content?

14:49Of course they were. I realise that. but I can only tell you what I saw. I can't tell you what was going on behind closed doors or anything. Do I agree with all their rules? Of course I don't. I've been to North Korea. Do I agree with their rules? Absolutely not. But I saw what I saw and I had a positive experience. So am I going to tell you I had a negative experience? No.

15:08Piers Morgan:Well, tell me some negative things about the Taliban while I've got you. Of course I don't agree with how they treat women. Of course I don't. What do you think of the way they treat women? speaking as a Taliban. I'm not going to not travel to Afghanistan because... Tell me what you really think of the way the Taliban treat women. Well, I didn't go to... I'm asking you right now, tell me what you think of the... It's not funny. So I wonder why you're laughing. I'm just challenging you to tell the truth. Look at you all laughing. This isn't about... Not all. I'll come to... We're not politicians.

15:46Piers Morgan:Just to be clear, none of this is funny. It might be funny to you two, and that's fine, and you'd get your clicks and you make your money and you make your money propping up an evil regime. That's funny to you. It's not funny to me. And it's not funny to Yalda, who has run a foundation, a brilliant foundation, for a long period of time, helping poor young girls in Afghanistan who are being repressed in the most shocking, disgusting manner. So let me again go to Yalda. Look, I just find the attitude of these talibros almost as offensive as the propaganda they spew out. You are a Taliban, whether you like it or not.

16:23Piers Morgan:But Taliban, the turn is... Now, the response to Harry, who thinks the Taliban are all just shockingly friendly to him. Well, the fact that they think they're friendly or they're laughing about the situation just shows the extreme privilege. You know, being a Westerner, frolicking around these places because you think you can, frankly. And the women of these countries, and especially Afghanistan, in the 21st century, it is the only country on the planet that, as a matter of policy, the de facto government has decided that girls and women should not go to school and should not go to university.

16:52The fact that they won't allow mothers to take their children to parks. But I'm glad you guys were having a good time. And as far as having access to the top aspect of the leadership of the Taliban, I have sat down with members of the Haqqani Network, one of the most brutal wings of the militant wings of the Taliban, where at different points in the last 20 years when the Allied forces were in the country, at any given time, they would launch a suicide attack in the centre of Kabul and kill up to 100 people. So the fact that you guys think maybe the country is now safe because the Taliban are no longer launching suicide attacks on the country, or you somehow think this is the culture of a country, the fact that they're repressing and oppressing women, and then you think it's actually funny when you talk about it, is frankly a disgrace.

17:41Piers Morgan:Yeah, and Harry, let me just remind you, I don't know if you know this, but in November 2022, the Taliban announced a new slate of extreme laws, banned women from parks and gyms, reintroduced public flogging and executions. Like I say, barred women from university grounds and tutoring centres and stoning. We will flog the women. We will stone them to death in public, said the Taliban's supreme leader in an audio message issued in March 2024. I didn't see any of that in your YouTube content. I mean, did it not make the edit, or did you not want to look for that stuff? No, I... Again, not funny.

18:21Piers Morgan:Stonings aren't funny. So try and take it a bit more seriously. I find it funny... You keep laughing as if it's all a big joke. No, I find it funny how an amazing country, there's 40 million people in Afghanistan, and obviously they don't all support the Taliban, and I absolutely do not support them, and I completely... I think the funny thing is that we're on the same page in that I don't agree with any of these things, of course, but you're making it seem like I do agree with them. Oh, bro, you're a phallip, bro, and you put women in cages, don't you? Didn't you say to a young girl back in your cage in one of your videos?

18:56I clearly sarcasm. Like, it was so obviously sarcastic. It's not sarcastic for the... It's not funny or sarcastic for the women who are literally in cages right now.

19:06Piers Morgan:And women who are being stoned to death in Afghanistan probably don't share your glib sense of humour about it. Let me bring in Nolan. So, Nolan, you've got a slightly more nuanced take, thankfully. Let's play a clip of what you put up. I'm going to be honest, and this is going to come at no surprise, but it's a complete sausage fest in here. I got all these gentlemen surrounding me, but never in my life have I been surrounded by women. Hello, sir. good to meet you I'm good hello sir I need some hand sanitizer this hand is getting a little touchy maybe we could go play some volleyball I have like a I believe a huge team of people I could play volleyball with seal in his legion of doom oh my god that was funny I don't know why his friend hit him I have a new name for my posse.

20:03It's a seal in his legion of doom. Where are we going? Me and my legion of doom are going to go play volleyball. We're going to kick some ass because we just have numbers, you know?

20:14Piers Morgan:So let me ask you, Nolan, clearly very few women again. You know, do you understand that all of you guys in different ways are helping the Taliban with the content that you largely put up? Or are you prepared now, for example, to be completely condemnatory about everything the Taliban regime stands for, from your own experience? Many of us carry around bulky, worn-out wallets that are uncomfortable and full of junk. The big question is why. Ridge wallets can hold 12 cards, plus cash, with zero bulk. They're made from premium materials like aluminum, titanium and carbon fibre. And they're built with RFID-blocking technology to defend your cards against digital theft.

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