AMSO: Only 6.9 Percent of Female Journalists in Afghanistan Remain Active

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The Afghanistan Media Support Organization (AMSO) in a new report has warned that the situation of female journalists under Taliban rule is extremely critical.

Findings of this report show that only 6.9 percent of female journalists have been able to remain active in the media, while many have been forced to work secretly and more than two-fifths have left the profession entirely.

This report, published today Monday (September 22) based on a survey of 101 female journalists in July and August 2025, shows that the majority of journalists face extensive censorship, personal threats, gender-based restrictions, and lack of equipment. More than 90 percent have been forced to change or remove their reports and 54 percent have lost their jobs.

According to AMSO, many women, in order to preserve their professional identity, have turned to secret work from home or freelancing, but these methods have severely limited their access to resources, colleagues, and equipment. At the same time, nearly half of the respondents said they have no hope of continuing their work in the coming year.

The report also shows that more than 80 percent of journalists have received no support in the past year. AMSO emphasizes that continuation of this situation could lead to the complete silencing of women’s voices in the media.

The organization has called on the international community for urgent support for Afghan female journalists and stressed that the resilience of women journalists is a sign of daily resistance against repression, but without solidarity and global action, the risk of their complete elimination from Afghanistan’s media scene is serious.

This report comes at a time when, since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, the situation of female journalists in Afghanistan has turned into one of the darkest periods in the country’s media history. The Taliban, through strict restrictions, have effectively eliminated women from the media.