"Do not believe what you hear. Do your own research"

The Association of Foreign Press Correspondents recently spoke with Jere Van Dyk regarding recent developments in Afghanistan. Van Dyk is a critically acclaimed author and journalist whose work focuses on political conflicts in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He has worked for several organizations, notably the New York Times and National Geographic. In the following interview, Van Dyk touches on the future of Afghan politics and whether the Taliban regime will maintain press freedoms for journalists. He then discusses coping strategies when reporting in hostile environments, the most fundamental principle being "trust your gut." He applauds the courage of journalists in dangerous areas but cautions against taking unnecessary risks. The interview provides valuable insight into reporting on one of the world's most dangerous regions from a bona fide expert.

What do you think about the recent developments in Afghanistan?

It is too early to tell what is going to happen in Afghanistan. The recent developments, while shocking to the West, reflect the will of most of the religious, rural population, which makes up about 70% of the population of Afghanistan. The U.S. and its allies unthinkingly poured too much money into Afghanistan, creating too much corruption and too much lust for money in one of the poorest countries in the world.

The Taliban have appointed an interim government, not a final one. They are under pressure from Iran, China, Russia, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, among others, to create an inclusive government. This means including Shia Muslim, like the Hazaras, with their Mongol features, considered incorrectly to be the descendents of Genghis Khan; and the Uzbeks, from the north, the Persian-speaking Tijaks, the second largest ethnic group after the Pashtuns, who make up most of the Taliban, and other ethnic groups. It means including women.

The Taliban crave international acceptance, and they need money and markets to sell their goods.

The Taliban are, however, committed to Shariah and an Islamic state. Please note, however, as U.S. journalists and society refused to after 9/11, that more girls went to school under the Taliban than before. Check with CARE, the oldest and largest American NGO operating in Afghanistan. Check with the venerable Swedish Committee, maybe the best NGO operating there. The Taliban will probably segregate classes with boys in one and girls in another, but I don't think they will be as harsh as they were before.

Do not believe what you hear. Do your own research. Always.

The Taliban will get rid of the (largely U.S.) written constitution, and then they will hold a Loya Jirga (national tribal assembly), as Karzai did, as they have been doing for centuries, to choose their leaders. This is months down the road. They consider democracy a Western religion. They want a theocracy instead.

As the author of a book recounting your experience of getting taken captive by the Taliban, do you think the Taliban regime will carry out its promises of free press and women journalists' rights?

I doubt that they will allow a free press. After all, the Saudis, once the most conservative of all Muslim nations, do not, and neither does Egypt nor the UAE, and therefore why should they. As regards to women, the Taliban are divided. I think because they are under enormous pressure from their international backers to allow women more opportunities and more freedom than before. Again, they will look to Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, and possibly Pakistan, but certainly not to the West for guidance.

President Barack Obama greets Jere Van Dyk in June at a White House conference on hostage policy. (Pete Souza/White House)

What is your biggest concern and fear regarding the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan?

I am afraid that it will continue to be a battleground leading to more death and destruction. In the 1950s, when Eisenhower, who read about Afghanistan when he was young, visited there, and in the 1960s and 70s, when there were between 5,000-6,000 hippies there, smoking hashish and dancing in the sun, some women were covered while others dressed like women in Paris. School girls wore short skirts and long socks and laughed in the streets. There was a discoteque. It was the hippies who brought Afghanistan into the international drug-trafficking system, beginning, like America's and Pakistan's creation, with Saudi Arabia, of the Mujahideen, to fight the Communists, and Russia's invasion, that led to the destruction of Afghanistan. Now I am worried about al-Qaida, which is there and will attract more followers from the Middle East and ISIL, with its Arab money.

How would you define the term courage for journalists based on your own experience as a courageous journalist?

Courage comes in many forms. There is physical courage, which a war correspondent needs, and there is also the intellectual and moral courage to ask the hard and even dangerous questions of people who can harm you, to stand up for what you believe, to write or say in front of a camera what your bosses or your audience may not want to hear. A journalist does not work for his country but to find and to tell the truth. They must be able to live with themselves and not seek to be friends with other journalists. Everyone wants to be accepted, but if you follow the herd, and don't listen to your instincts, you will hate yourself. It takes courage also to be humble and to not seek fame, but, again, only the truth.

What lessons have you learned from your experience as a war correspondent who reported under extremely dangerous circumstances?

I have learned that the most important thing is to listen to your instincts, to follow them, and not to worry. The story will always come to you. There will be times when you are sorely tested, and there are many journalists, women as much as men, who have been killed. It is a chance you have to take. Or do something else. The most important thing is to be able to sleep at night knowing that you tried your best and that you were not a coward, physically, intellectually, or morally. You have to be humble at, for example, a border crossing; the man with the rifle has all the power. You must learn to be humble. Respect everyone. Remember Kipling, who wrote, "Here lies a fool who tried to hustle the East." And always be able to go back to your source.

A journalist has to risk their own safety to provide good journalism, but how far should they go?

I can't tell you how far you should go. Again, always listen to your instincts. I have learned that if I feel a pit in my stomach, then what I am about to do is dangerous. I have done dangerous, even foolish things, like hiking up a glacier in western Tibet alone, without ropes, in the sun, and eventually falling through the snow (but then it held). Twice the snow gave way. I still cringe when I think of that day. My assignment from the National Geographic magazine was to follow the length of the Brahmaputra and to go to its source. My photographer, in his desire to beat me, and be famous, went alone before me, instead of together, to take credit so he could say that he was the first. I was angry and felt competitive and was determined to go farther than he did: to climb that glacier to where the trickle of water began. I was proud. I was not humble. I was not smart. I was foolish. I am so lucky that I survived that climb. I have taken chances with the Taliban, and sometimes it was close. I made mistakes, like hiding in a room where we kept our ammunition and the Soviet helicopter gunship hovered above us. Sometimes you have to take a chance to go for it. Finally, when I was in that Taliban prison, I knew to be humble, to not be foolish, to try not to be angry, to try to understand, to be strong, to take notes, to show respect, to never lie, to think, and again and again, to put away foolish pride.

What is your advice to foreign journalists who come to the U.S. to report back to their audiences?

Try to understand American culture. It is not European, it is not Canadian. Go everywhere, if your budget allows it. Go to the swamps of Louisiana to the glaciers of Alaska, to Indian reservations, to inner cities, to farms and churches. Try to understand country music and the blues. Do not stay in Washington, D.C. Really go deep into the racial divide: this fear and hatred of the other. Try to find out how the richest, most powerful nation can be so angry, so divided, and how so many can be so willing to look to a dictator. Don't be afraid of America. Don't judge it; try to figure it out, especially its insecurities, its self-destructive side, and what makes it great. You will be doing all of us a favor.