Arrests, bans, shutdowns: No end in sight to Taliban media crackdown 3 years on

New York, August 14, 2024—As the Taliban mark the third anniversary of their return to power, the Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the group to halt their unprecedented destruction of Afghanistan’s media and brutal repression of journalists.

“Grave injustices are the hallmark of the Taliban’s rule,” CPJ’s Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi said on Wednesday. “The Taliban’s ruthless crackdown has pushed the few remaining media outlets in Afghanistan to the brink. The international community must stand with the Afghan people, and foreign governments should streamline resettlement processes and support journalists in exile so they can continue their work.”

Over the last year, the Taliban have detained at least 16 Afghan and foreign journalists, shut four radio and TV stations, banned a popular London-based broadcaster, and suspended the licenses of 14 media outlets. At least one of the detained journalists was severely beaten.

The Taliban have also banned the broadcast of women’s voices and announced a plan to restrict access to Facebook in Afghanistan.

The Taliban’s intelligence agency, the General Directorate of Intelligence, alongside the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice have been at the forefront of the ongoing media crackdown.

The hostile media environment has driven hundreds of Afghan journalists to flee to neighboring countries where many are stuck in legal limbo, without the right to work or clear prospects of resettlement. At least one Afghan journalist was injured in a shooting in Pakistan.

CPJ’s text messages to Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid requesting comment did not receive a response.