Under the Taliban, press freedom is declining dramatically

Welcome to the Azadi Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that highlights the most important issues in Afghanistan. To subscribe, Click here.

I'm Abubakar Siddique, senior correspondent at RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. Here's what I've been following and what I'll be watching for in the coming days.

The core problem

An Afghan press freedom watchdog says press freedom remains Waste while the Taliban celebrate their third year in power.

In a new report On August 13, the Afghanistan Journalist Center (AFJC) said the Taliban's brutality against the media had increased.

The Afghan government issued “new guidelines” to rein in the once-vibrant Afghan press, which was already under pressure to implement the 14 detailed directives the group had issued over the past two years.

The report says that during the last year of their rule, the Taliban decreed what language and terminology Afghan print and electronic media should use.

As part of its increasing restrictions, the group has banned photography and filming of all meetings in the southern province of Kandahar, where the Taliban's supreme leader, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, lives.

Hamid Obidi, head of the AFJC, said the Taliban's three years in power had proven that they did not believe “in a free press and the right of citizens to access free information.”

The AFJC documented 181 cases of threats, detentions and convictions of journalists from August 2023 to the present.

Afghan journalists living in the West claim that the Taliban have imprisoned more than 300 journalists in the last three years.

Why it is important: The Taliban are trying to systematically erode the freedoms of the Afghan press because they see them as a legacy of the fallen Afghan Republic and its Western allies.

The Islamist group has failed to keep any of its previous promises to guarantee press freedom, instead wanting Afghan journalists to “reorient their thinking,” according to the AFJC, whose report cited statements from senior Taliban officials.

The Taliban's actions speak much louder than their promises. Hundreds of journalists have been forced into exile by intimidation by their representatives. Numerous Afghan media outlets have had to close due to Taliban restrictions or the loss of Western funding.

To prevent Afghans from having a free flow of information, they have banned international broadcasters whose content is widely available in Pashto and Dari. The Taliban have also denied visas to independent foreign correspondents.

What’s next: The Taliban have been quite successful in creating a media landscape in Afghanistan that serves their government.

The restrictions even cause independent media in Afghanistan to censor themselves and refrain from critical reporting.

Declining international interest in Afghanistan and lack of access to the country make comprehensive government reporting extremely difficult.

All this has paved the way for the Taliban to replace journalism with propaganda.

What you should pay attention to

Ten major international non-governmental aid organizations called on Western donors to become more involved in supporting the unrecognized Taliban government.

CARE, the Danish Refugee Council, Save the Children International and other organizations have called on Western capitals to rethink their approach to the Taliban.

“Diplomatic engagement is crucial to creating an enabling environment in Afghanistan that supports an expansion of international aid efforts, including development projects in addition to emergency relief,” the NGOs said in a joint statement. opinion on August 13th.

International donors have largely suspended their support for Afghanistan because the Taliban bans women from education and employment in most cases and reportedly commits massive human rights abuses.

The statement said the current “isolation approach” of donor countries is not helping to alleviate the suffering of Afghans who are facing one of the world's largest humanitarian crises.

Almost half of Afghanistan's 40 million inhabitants are dependent on humanitarian aid, but funds for crisis management are dwindling: only 25 percent of the pledged funds are available for the UN's current humanitarian appeal of more than three billion dollars.

Why it is important: The statement is part of a new trend that favors engagement over pressure to change the Taliban's behavior.

However, it is unclear whether the Taliban are willing to abandon their extremist policies if their government is recognized and receives international assistance.

That’s all from me for now.

Don't forget to send me your questions, comments or tips. You can reach us anytime at [email protected]

See you next time,

Abubakar Siddique

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