AMSO Calls for Immediate Support for Afghan Journalists

Image: Wakil Kohsar/AFP via Aljazeera

The Afghanistan Media Support Organization (AMSO) has expressed deep concern in a statement over the Taliban’s new restrictions against media and journalists in the past week.

In its statement, the organization said that in recent days the Taliban, by imposing restrictions such as banning the publication of images of living beings in Balkh, halting the activities of visual media in Panjshir, and banning YouTubers in Kandahar, are attempting to gradually silence visual media across Afghanistan.

AMSO also referred to the confession of Mohammad Omar Mokhles, former Taliban commander in Paktia, about the Taliban’s intention to kill journalists, stressing that such threats reveal the Taliban’s clear policy of eliminating the voice of truth.

According to the organization, these measures severely threaten the free flow of information and inflict irreparable damage on the country’s media community.

AMSO has called on freedom of expression defenders and the international community to take a firm stance against these restrictions and to undertake immediate and practical support for Afghan journalists. The statement said: “Media and journalists are the voice of the people of Afghanistan; silencing the media means silencing the voice of truth and depriving the people of awareness.”

These restrictions come as the Taliban, since their return to power in 2021, have gradually suppressed media freedom and freedom of expression, while journalists have faced arbitrary arrests, torture, and continuous threats.