When the Taliban was overthrown in 2001 one of the nascent industries was the media in Afghanistan. The republican government facilitated the environment of free speech and this saw an impressive media landscape emerging. At its peak, the country had 597 media active channels such as independent newspapers, radio and television. The journalists delivered crucial news and information on the public’s view’s and opinions. One positive achievement is the rising number of female active journalists and journalists; many of them were females 27.6% of all journalists before the year 2021. This was a booming media industry that was now a symbol of progress, freedom, and a struggle where journalists try their best to keep their society updated in every sense.
The Impact of the Taliban Takeover in 2021
This golden era of Afghanistan’s history to some extend came to an end in August 2021 when Taliban took control over the country again. This media hub of south Asia saw decline in their media sector: over 300 media outlets closed within two years after the Taliban took over resulting to the most famous journalists in the field to flee for their lives Over half of the journalists are now jobless, and 85 percent of them are women, most of whom have been forced to leave the field.jobs, and more than 85% of female journalists were forced out of the profession. Currently, only 5 percentage out of fewer than 500 journalists working in Afghanistan are women with many provinces that completely absent women from media.
The Taliban regime brought about serious limitations of freedom of press. Due to these threats, arrests, torture and imprisonments that some of them received, self-censorship prevailed in the media. Much as in the first phase, the Taliban prescribed editorial policies; they always conducted raids to the media houses to enforce compliance. Quite a number of journalists decided to shut their media organizations to avoid being used by the Taliban to spread their messages.
According to RSF, Afghanistan is among most dangerous countries for journalists along with Vietnam and Russia. In 2023, the Taliban jailed more than 21 journalists in Afghanistan.
Insights from Experts and Journalists in Exile
The current state of affairs is awful, says Samiullah Mahdi, an Afghan journalist and editor-in-chief of Amu TV. “We are now looking at the ashes of what we created years ago,” Mahdi states and only the Taliban, through the iron hand of oppression, was able to destroy a flourishing media culture.
Mortaza Behboudi
Another French-Afghan journalist Mortaza Behboudi, 30, was arrested in early 2023 while reporting near Kabul University. He endured brutal conditions, including torture, in Kabul’s intelligence police station and later at Shash-Darak and Pul-e-Charkhi prisons. Behboudi shared overcrowded, windowless cells and faced violent abuse, including electric shocks, beatings, and simulated drowning. Fellow prisoners experienced extreme suffering, including amputations and suicides. After months of imprisonment and transfer between facilities, Behboudi was finally released in October 2023.
A renowned female Journalist that has been profiled is Anisa Shaheed who has been awarded internationally for her courage and the principles that she advocates on independent journalism. She remains a hope for Afghan journalist. Her work shows how the Afghan media practitioners have faced this grim reality but still wherever they can they practice journalism like it should be.
UNAMA’s Observations on Press Freedom
UNAMA has regularly highlighted deterioration of the freedom of speech and press under the rule of the Taliban. One of UNAMA’s concerns, which it raises in its reports, is the increasing tendency for journalists and other media staff to become fearful. It has deplored the cases of arbitrary arrest, detention and threats against journalists and stressed that a free press is necessary in the protection of human rights and the promulgation of check and balance.
UNAMA has also urged the Taliban to adhere to the principles of democratic countries concerning freedom of speech and not to continue setting stringent rules that hurt the freedom of journalism. It remains the organization strong concern that respecting press freedom is not just an international legal requirement, but also a measure by which Afghans might begin to restore trust and governance to a nation.
Some of the Afghan journalists who fled to other countries such as Iran, Turkey and Pakistan are suffering a lot. Many of afghan journalists in Iran are undocumented and thus can be legally vulnerable as well as deported. In Turkey alone restrictions from local authorities and unstable economy affects journalism. These fired journalists get unemployment, social rejection and psychological demoralization, as they look for jobs with new media outlets in exile.
This situation observed in ones of journalism in Afghanistan today is evidence enough of the need for intervention and assistance from the international communities. Afghan journalists said that journalists both domestic and international require tools and chances for their projects. And the Afghan public needs to be able to find credible information to put the tyrant in check and here the need for independent journalism emerges. however, the future of free media in Afghanistan is bleak, the brave journalists like Anisa Shaheed and Samiullah Mahdi hang the lights of hope in the dark and gloomy tunnel. The UNAMA’s advocacy calls the global conscience to defend the liberty of press and journalists exercising the profession in one of the hardest places in the world.
Azada Ahmadi
Sources:
https://www.bbc.com/news/videos/cx2d2kxlgnjo
https://ijnet.org/en/story/state-journalism-afghanistan-today
https://thediplomat.com/2023/08/analyzing-the-state-of-afghan-journalism/
https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/11/1157511
https://www.info-res.org/afghan-witness/reports/the-stories-of-afghanistans-women-journalists/
