Journalists face major threats from Taliban takeover

Following the recent developments in Afghanistan, where the Taliban seized power and the US-led forces surrendered, the country has become the most dangerous battlefield for journalists. 

Journalists are perceived as the worst enemies of the terrorizing militant regime that toppled the government in Afghanistan. Media representatives in Afghanistan have been the only source of information for international audiences about the shocking ways the Taliban intimidate and kill civilians, particularly women and girls.  

Foreign correspondents in Afghanistan report and document the chaos, followed by capturing Afghanistan's capital, Kabul. As journalists can be the victims of the Taliban regime's hostility at any time and anywhere, their lives are at risk there. According to Reporters without Borders, "at least 100 journalists, including 15 international journalists, have been killed in connection with their work in the past 20 years, while more than 60 media outlets have been destroyed or attacked and hundreds of threats have been made against journalists and media." According to the United Nations report, several media representatives have died in assassination attacks since 2018 in Afghanistan. 

During the last two decades, the Nia Media Institute has tracked violent acts, threats, and intimidation against journalists in Afghanistan. Since the Taliban began capturing more and more regions, there have been more victims of violence, intimidation, and killings, which is expected to rise after the Taliban capture the latest fort in the conflict, Kabul. During the capture of Afghanistan from the Taliban, over 90 media outlets were closed due to safety concerns for journalists, Voice of America reported recently. 

Afghan journalists fear that they will be targeted, imprisoned, or even killed by the Taliban regime. They are now begging for help to get a visa to escape Afghanistan and seek asylum. Many of them have been freelancers working for Western media outlets reporting from Afghanistan. The United States Department of State announced that it offers refugee status to Afghans who had worked or collaborated with US forces. A union recently requested Boris Johnston of UK media to initiate a program to shield Afghan reporters from the Taliban's retaliation against them by offering refugee protection. US media, including Fox News and New York Times, made the same request to US President Joe Biden. It remains uncertain how fast journalists in Afghanistan can leave the country while foreign journalists working for Western media risk their lives by reporting on a terrorist regime where press freedom does not exist. 

Reporting from Kabul, Afghanistan, CNN's Clarissa Ward said journalists in the country know they are targets because of their candidness about the Taliban. Even more horrifying is the situation for women journalists in Afghanistan. Taliban's brutality and hostility toward women are no secret. Recently, Guardian published the story of a young female journalist in Afghanistan who describes the fear and struggle for survival during the Taliban's occupation of her city. "I am still on the run, and there is no safe place for me to go," she said. 

The international community is appalled by the failure of Western democracies to stabilize and democratize Afghanistan. Journalist Janine di Giovani, a Senior Fellow at the Yale Jackson Institute for Global Affairs, predicts that the Taliban control of Afghanistan will result in a humanitarian catastrophe, the likes of which we haven't seen in a long time: "Taliban will likely revert back to fourth century standards. (...) the Taliban will have a brutal reign, human rights will be discarded, and a humanitarian catastrophe, the likes of which we haven't seen in a while, will ensue.”