Twenty young Afghan tech workers followed the Talibans' advance as Kabul fell on Sunday. They broadcast real-time updates of gunfire, explosions and traffic jams through a new app.
The app is called Ehtesab and relies on ground-level information from a team of users to a private WhatsApp Group.
These reports are then checked by fact-checkers who verify them. They include security incidents such as fires or gunshots, bombings, road closures or traffic problems, and electricity cuts. Sara Wahedi (26-year-old founder) said that the team tried to verify the reports with the interior ministry when it was still in existence.
Wahedi, along with her team, were supposed to upload the latest version of their iOS App on Sunday morning but instead had to deal with an increasing number of reports.
Breaking news on the @ehtesabaf app: Taliban entered Arghandi District, Paghman District. South Gate of Kabul. Wahedi posted the following tweet: ANDSF [Afghan National Defence and Security Forces] under attack
She stated that Ehtesab was able to get reliable reports from many security structures including the government and international organizations, as the Taliban were advancing across Afghanistan.
Soon, the team began receiving reports from the Taliban that they had taken Bagram prison in the former US military base north of Kabul.
Our reporting mechanisms were still in use at that time, so it was easy for us to talk with our security team as well as all our reporters. She said that we were constantly monitoring the Taliban, speaking to various police districts and tracking them kilometer-by-kilometer.
They reached the city centre, but everything was shut down. There was no internet, and there was no way to communicate with each other. Many people deleted their messages and turned off their phones. The president's office was informed by the Taliban that they had reached them.
Ehtesab (which means accountability in Pashto or Dari) is owned by Netlinks, an Afghan company that invested $40,000 and Wahedi who claimed she has contributed $2,500 of her own funds.
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I did not want to register as a NGO to be limited or benchmarked by the United Nations. She said that this is an Afghan-led, funded, 100% Afghan team involved in this project.
The app allows users to opt for phone alerts that are based on their current location. This will warn them to avoid certain buildings, areas, or businesses. The app allows users to report incidents and turns on their camera and microphone. This allows you to send video footage directly to Wahedis. She stated that the goal is to empower local communities by providing them with real-time information so they can take action.
Ehtesab continues to run, and Wahedi stated that she would like to continue operating it for as long as she can, even though she is currently out of Afghanistan. Through a GoFundMe campaign she has raised nearly $15,000, which she will send to her Kabul team as emergency funds.
She plans to create a nationwide system of alerts, both via the apps and through SMS warnings. The office is still closed in Kabul, and employees work remotely. However, they plan to upload an iOS version as soon they are able to get back to their desks.
She said that we just want to ease some of the anxiety that Afghans feel in these volatile and uncertain times. She said that we will come up with different methods to gather data about the city and its security. That's the beauty of technology, she added.
After spending two years in President Ashraf Ghanis office for Afghanistans social development policies, Wahedi started the company in 2018. She insists that she is not affiliated with any political party.
After fleeing Taliban rule in Kabul, she had returned to her hometown at 21 years old. She had also fled to Canada as an asylum seeker when she was six. Twenty-two years later, the Afghan entrepreneur fled from the Taliban once more. She doesn't know if she will ever return. She said it was like Groundhog Day.
She is now using the privilege of having escaped Kabul in order to charter flights to Afghanistan for her friends.
While I am grateful to be with my mom, the guilt is overwhelming when I think of my home and the fact that I won't be able go back to Kabul, which I have known for so many years. I don't think anyone will ever be the exact same again.
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