“I’m from Afghanistan, and I am very upset today,” the journalist, Nazira Karimi, told Defense Department spokesman John Kirby. “Afghan women didn’t expect that overnight all the Taliban came.”

Over the weekend the Afghan government collapsed amid the U.S. withdrawal, and the Taliban surged back into Kabul. Many fear that the Taliban will impose their strict interpretation of Islam, which was especially repressive to women and girls.

“Everybody is upset, especially women,” Karimi said.

Karimi, who according to her LinkedIn page is a reporter for the Ariana Television Network, said in a brief but emotional address — much closer to a statement of dismay than a question — that she had herself escaped the Taliban 20 years ago.