How the Taliban takeover is affecting Afghan media

Taliban fighters walk toward journalists during a protest in Kabul on December 28, 2021. (Photo Mohd Rasfan/ AFP)

As the Taliban consolidated power in Afghanistan following its takeover in August 2021, journalists faced growing obstacles in doing their work and a bleak prognosis for the future of the vibrant media landscape that developed in the country over 20 years. The initial months of Taliban control saw raids on journalists’ homes, beatings, arrests, and the forcing of female reporters off the air. In 2022, as the emergence of the Haqqani-dominated General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) brought an even harder edge to the Taliban’s treatment of reporters, the group followed up on a May decree that all women to cover their faces in public with an order that all female TV presenters wear masks on air.

If you are an Afghan journalist needing help

CPJ is devoting the resources at its disposal to help Afghan journalists where possible. We are not equipped to evacuate people and only governments are able to issue visas, but are registering and vetting cases of Afghan journalists at risk of Taliban reprisals.

If you are an Afghan journalist seeking help, please send your information to [email protected]. Please note that we are receiving an extremely high volume of emails and are not able to respond as quickly as we would like to.

Online security

January 23, 2023 Afghan journalist Khairullah Parhar detained by Taliban since January 9
December 22, 2022 Taliban intelligence officials beat, interrogate journalist Zabihullah Noori
December 21, 2022 Taliban releases American journalist Ivor Shearer; CPJ calls for more releases
December 1, 2022 Taliban bans radio broadcasts of VOA and RFE/RL in Afghanistan
October 4, 2022 Taliban shuts down two news websites in Afghanistan
August 19, 2022 Taliban intelligence agents detain American filmmaker Ivor Shearer, Afghan producer Faizullah Faizbakhsh in Kabul
August 18, 2022 Taliban members beat, threaten, Afghan journalist Saboor Raufi
August 11, 2022 Journalist safety, press freedom groups urge U.S. Secretary of State Blinken to expedite visas for Afghan journalists
August 11, 2022 CPJ’s recommendations for protecting journalists and press freedom in Afghanistan
August 11, 2022 Kathy Gannon: Courageous journalism is happening in Afghanistan. We can help.

_{Taliban fighters patrol Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, Aug. 19, 2021. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)}

_{Evacuees from Afghanistan find temporary shelter in the US Army Rhine Ordonanz barracks in Kaiserslautern, Germany, August 30, 2021. REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach}

Spotlight: Journalists killed in Afghanistan

Since 2001, 64 journalists have died in Afghanistan in killings related to their work. Danish Siddiqui of Reuters and Mina Khairi of Ariana News TV lost their lives in 2021 and militant groups targeted at least five other reporters for murder in 2020, according to CPJ data.

CPJ’s advocacy for Afghan journalists

CPJ’s Maria Salazar Ferro on the efforts to support Afghan journalists
G-7 must protect and evacuate journalists and media workers in Afghanistan
U.S. must protect Afghan journalists as Taliban take power
Afghan Journalists Need U.S. Help: CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon’s Wall Street Journal op-ed
What the U.S. can do to save the lives of Afghan journalists: CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon’s Washington Post op-ed
CPJ, U.S. media organizations urge U.S. to provide visas to Afghans who worked with press
CPJ calls on governments to establish emergency visas for journalists
Open appeal to UN Member States to ensure the adoption of a resolution creating an investigative mechanism on Afghanistan at the 48th session of the UN Human Rights Council