A new report from NAI – the Afghan organization supporting free media – reveals that four years after the Taliban’s return to power, freedom of expression in Afghanistan has reached its lowest point, and the media industry is facing a steep decline.
According to the report, the number of media outlets in Afghanistan has dropped by more than half since the Taliban takeover, with print media suffering the most. During the previous republic, 254 print outlets were active; today, only 36 remain, with the rest having shut down.
The report also highlights a dramatic reduction in the number of journalists and media workers—down by 81 percent. Approximately 90 percent of female journalists have lost their jobs.
Journalists currently face unprecedented levels of violence and arbitrary detention. The report states that over the past four years, the Taliban have detained 403 journalists—a figure twenty times higher than the total number of journalist arrests during the previous twenty years of republican governance
NAI: Under Taliban Rule, Afghanistan’s Media Silenced and Severely Censored
