News man pulls veil on hotspot

Veteran BBC war correspondent John Simpson has smuggled himself into Afghanistan disguised as a Muslim woman.

The 57-year-old BBC world editor said he and cameraman Peter Jouvenal made it from Pakistan into the Taleban-held province of Nangarhar with the help of cross-border smugglers.

"The smugglers insisted that the cameraman and I should wear burqas - the traditional full-length garment of Pathan women - which covers the entire figure and face and is compulsory for all women living in Taleban-controlled Afghanistan."

Simpson told Britain's Sunday Telegraph that the shopkeeper in Pakistan who sold them the clothes turned out to be an avid viewer of BBC World television news, and greeted them like an old friend.

"He was too discreet to ask why two large Western males, six feet or more tall, might want a couple of burqas," he said. "We volunteered that they were presents for our wives. He didn't inquire why we were trying them on in that case."

Simpson said he initially resisted the smugglers' suggestion on the grounds that cross-dressing smacked too much of a pantomime.

"But when we put on the burqas, I realised how sensible it was. We seemed to disappear from view.

"For the entire length of the journey, no one looked at us. We hunched in the back of a pick-up truck, keeping our hands and walking boots covered up."

Simpson said the burqa was comfortable in some ways, but it sat tightly round the forehead.

Both men soon began to show "large, unfeminine sweat patches" above their lace panels.

Simpson, who has worked for the BBC for more than 30 years, has reported from more than 100 countries, including 30 war zones.

From Nangarhar he said thousands of Afghans were fleeing towns and cities and joining their relatives in the countryside out of fear of an American attack.

The Taleban, which originally had some support for restoring order, had become as unpopular as previous Governments through its corruption and mismanagement.

"Now, neither the Taleban nor anyone else thinks they can conceivably survive for long in the face of an all-out American attack.

"Reports from several parts of Afghanistan speak of Taleban commanders slipping away and joining the exodus to the countryside."

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