MONITORING (SW) – The Committee to Protect Journalists has said in a fresh report that the media in Afghanistan that emerged in the two decades after the 2001 U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan has entered a ‘chilling new phase in its clamp down’.
The first set of restrictions on Afghan media came on August 17, 2021, just two days after the Taliban’s takeover of the capital, Kabul. Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid broadly announced a framework for Afghan media operations, which he termed “suggestions.” He stressed that “no broadcast should contradict Islamic values, reporting should be impartial and there should be no broadcast against national interests,” according to media reports.
On September 19, 2021, the Taliban-controlled Government Media and Information Center (GMIC) announced 11 new publishing rules, including directives that journalists should coordinate with the GMIC when preparing content.
The Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice issued more restrictive directives on November 21, banning women from appearing in Afghan television dramas and ruling that female journalists and presenters must wear hijab – headscarves covering their heads and necks – on screen.
The CPJ said the GDI’s predecessor, the National Directorate of Security (NDS), was accountable to the now-defunct Afghan parliament and government leaders for its primary mission of counterterrorism and foreign intelligence operations.
“The Taliban’s GDI has shifted its main focus to domestic affairs, including actively suppressing media and civil society activists and the detention, torture and even killing of former Afghan government military and civilian officials, according to three former government intelligence operatives who spoke to CPJ on condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation”, it said.
CPJ has reviewed these permission letters, which are addressed to any “security official” of the Taliban. The letter names the reporter and the agency or media organization they work for and states that they have permission to visit different parts of the city for reporting purposes. The letter provides a Taliban phone number for additional confirmation of the journalist’s identity.
A recent survey by the Afghanistan Journalists Federation, reviewed by CPJ, found that before the fall of Kabul around 4,090 Afghan male journalists and 979 female journalists were active in Afghanistan. Six months later, an estimated 2,091 male journalists and 243 female journalists are still working in the country.
In every respect, Afghanistan’s once thriving media ecosystem is declining rapidly under Taliban rule.
ENDS
