Pregnant New Zealand journalist in Afghanistan can go home
CTV
A pregnant New Zealand journalist who was stranded in Afghanistan by her home country's COVID-19 border policy said Tuesday she will return home after her government finally offered her a pathway back.
The government offer amounted to a backdown by New Zealand after officials had earlier insisted that Charlotte Bellis needed to reapply for a spot in the country's bottlenecked quarantine hotels. Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson said Bellis had been offered a voucher for a room.
"I will be returning to my home country New Zealand at the beginning of March to give birth to our baby girl," Bellis said in a statement. "We are so excited to return home and be surrounded by family and friends at such a special time."
Her case had quickly becoming an embarrassment to New Zealand, which has thousands of citizens waiting abroad for space to open in the military-run border quarantine hotels.
Bellis said she wanted to thank fellow New Zealanders for their support and would continue to challenge the government to find a solution to its border controls. She added that she was disappointed the decision was a one-off and didn't offer a pathway home for other pregnant New Zealanders.
