The suspension of broadcast licenses, arrests and closures of news outlets in Afghanistan show that the Taliban continue to exert pressure on media, watchdogs say.
In recent weeks, the Taliban-run Afghanistan Telecom Regulatory Authority, or ATRA, suspended 17 broadcast licenses assigned to 14 media outlets in eastern Nangarhar province. The privately owned Kawoon Ghag radio station in Laghman province has also been shuttered, according to media watchdogs.
“Three years after the fall of Kabul, the Taliban continue to put pressure on journalists and media outlets that remain in Afghanistan,” Beh Lih Yi, the Asia Program coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists, told VOA.
“In July alone, at least two journalists — Sayed Rahim Saeedi and Mohammad Ibrahim Mohtaj — have been arrested by Taliban intelligence agents and morality police, respectively,” she said via email.
Hamisha Bahar Radio and TV, Sharq TV and Arzasht are among the outlets to have their licenses suspended, according to Afghan media associations.
The media outlets were ordered to pay outstanding license fees, which cost around $1,500 a year.
But with the media industry under economic pressure since the Taliban takeover, costs can be hard to cover.
“As the country experiences an economic crisis, it is difficult for local media outlets to pay the license fees,” one freelance journalist told VOA. “Even if this was the case, they [the regulatory authority] should have approached the outlets and helped them,” the journalist, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal, told VOA.
He described the action as a systematic repression of freedom of expression.
Since the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, Afghanistan has seen a stark decline in international aid and its economy, according to a 2024 report from the World Bank.
Neither the Taliban Ministry of Communications and Information Technology nor the ATRA regulator responded to VOA’s email requests for comment.
Shukrullah Pasoon, a former director at the now-shuttered broadcaster Enikass TV, said even if the Taliban allowed affected outlets to keep working, it wouldn’t be easy to return to programming and viewership.
“It is part of their crackdown on journalists. Journalists are not feeling safe to continue their work under the Taliban. In this way, they want to put pressure on journalists to influence the content of the media outlets,” Pasoon said.
The outlet he worked for closed after the Taliban’s takeover. Soon after the group regained control of Afghanistan, armed militants raided the home of Zalmai Lotfi, the head of Enikaas TV.
The unnamed freelance journalist who spoke with VOA said the suspension would have “a negative impact” on the province.
Local media outlets can no longer report independently and hold those in power accountable, as the free media landscape has shrunk under the Taliban, the local journalist said.
“Many journalists have already lost their jobs, and with the closure of these outlets, more journalists would lose their jobs,” the freelance journalist said.
The Taliban have previously said media outlets have unrestricted freedom and support from the government if they follow the country’s laws and Islamic values.
But watchdogs, including the Afghanistan Journalists Center, have recorded more than 450 media violation cases since the Taliban took power.
The country currently ranks as the third-worst country for media, coming in at 178th out of 180 on the World Press Freedom Index, where 1 signals the best environment.
In 2021, just before the Taliban takeover, it ranked 122nd.
Waheed Faizi contributed to this report.
