Afghan media group says Taliban pressure on journalists has intensified

The Afghanistan Media Support Organization (AMSO) has said restrictions on freedom of expression, access to information and the safety of journalists in Afghanistan have increased over the past month, creating serious difficulties for independent media outlets.

In a statement on Friday, 20 Sunbula, the group said the Taliban administration had on 15 August asked media outlets and journalists in all provinces to forcibly cover the anniversary of the group’s takeover of Afghanistan, a move AMSO said had increased pressure on media work.

According to the statement, in Helmand province, a number of local journalists were threatened by the Taliban administration’s Department of Information and Culture and some were asked to provide written pledges. AMSO also said that in some eastern provinces, journalists were barred from speaking with women.

AMSO said journalists in Laghman were also expelled from a women’s handicrafts exhibition and prevented from taking photographs. The group added that journalists had been detained in several provinces, including in Khost, where 12 journalists were held for about two hours.

AMSO also reported that in Kandahar, eight employees of the Radio stations Hewaad and Zama were jailed for one day on charges of shaving their beards. The organisation added that Taliban intelligence in Herat and Badakhshan had increased surveillance and pressure on the media and that in some cases news content was reviewed and censored before publication.

AMSO is a media support organisation in Afghanistan that tracks events related to journalists and the state of media freedom. In recent years, media organisations have repeatedly voiced concern over growing restrictions and pressure on journalists in various provinces of Afghanistan.