Beneath the Veil

Saira Shah's journey into the heart of Afghanistan reveals a country of desperate poverty, much of it brought about by the deliberate policies of its fundamentalist Islamic government, the Taliban.

Women are deprived not only of education, medicine and freedom, but often of the very means of survival.

People are executed for minor crimes such as theft and adultery and this act is carried out in the football stadium funded by the United Nations in order to provide the country with entertainment.

Saira, the daughter of Afghan scholar, Idries Shah, takes a dangerous journey into the heart of her father's country.

Starting in the vast refugee camps of Pakistan, she makes her way into Afghanistan itself, where she finds unimaginable brutality but also extraordinary bravery within the feamle quarter of the country.

Reported by : Saira Shah