The Taliban has carried out far-reaching censorship and violence against regional media outlets, drastically limiting critical reporting in Afghan provinces, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said, adding that the group’s fighters have beaten journalists and closed down media outlets. Threats, intimidation compelled many journalists to self-censor and report only Taliban statements and official events.

“Taliban harassment and attacks on journalists outside major urban areas have largely gone unreported, causing media outlets in outlying provinces to self-censor or close altogether,” Fereshta Abbasi, Afghanistan researcher at Human Rights Watch, said. 

“In many provinces, the Taliban have virtually eliminated reporting on a wide range of issues and have driven women, journalists, out of the profession,” she added.

Since the Taliban’s takeover in August 2021, an estimated 80 percent of women journalists across Afghanistan have lost their jobs or left the profession; hundreds of media outlets have closed their operations, the HRW said in its report. 

In 17 of the country’s total 34 provinces, Taliban officials regularly monitor their reporting prior to publication. In many cases, the Taliban’s intelligence officials forced journalists to only report official versions of events. In some provinces, woman journalists were told to stop work at together. 

“We all fear for our safety,” HRW quoted a reporter as saying in Baghlan province. “If something happens to a journalist, there is no institution or system to support them or to seek justice. There is no support for the media workers in Afghanistan right now.”

Local journalists are forced not to cover what many see as illegal detention and subsequent torture—a dangerous, but now widespread, trend. Since the Taliban takeover, most women working in media have lost their jobs. and in some provinces there are no longer any women journalists.

(SAM)