As the United States and other countries accelerate efforts to remove Afghan allies from the country, Afghan journalists employed by foreign news organizations face a more dangerous path to Taliban security and some have been killed. Despite guarantees of amnesty from the regime, a growing number of reports indicate that the Taliban are looking for Afghan journalists and, in some cases, targeting them or members of their families.
German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported on Thursday that Taliban soldiers searching for one of its reporters had killed a member of his family and seriously injured another. “The Taliban are obviously conducting organized searches for journalists in Kabul and provinces,” Deutsche Welle director Peter Limbourg said in a statement. “Time is running out.” The station, along with several leading German media outlets, urged Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government to help them secure the exit from Afghanistan for their employees and their families. Last week, Amdullah Hamdard, 33, who translated for the U.S. Special Forces and later worked with the newspaper Die Zeit, was killed by Taliban fighters in Jalalabad, according to the newspaper. In recent days, the editors of the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post have joined in the evacuation efforts of staff members and their families. The editors asked the Biden administration to help facilitate the passage of his Afghan colleagues.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s chief spokesman, told a news conference on Tuesday that the media “can continue to be free and independent.” But on Thursday, Taliban fighters beat two Afghan journalists while violently dispersing a protest in Jalalabad. The Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based watchdog group, noted other attacks on journalists, including the deadly shooting on August 9 of a radio station manager in Kabul and the kidnapping of a journalist in Helmand province. Afghan press freedom groups blamed the Taliban for the two incidents. An American journalist, Wesley Morgan, tweeted this week that the Taliban had searched the house of an Afghan interpreter he was working with.
German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle reported on Thursday that Taliban soldiers searching for one of its reporters had killed a member of his family and seriously injured another. “The Taliban are obviously conducting organized searches for journalists in Kabul and provinces,” Deutsche Welle director Peter Limbourg said in a statement. “Time is running out.” The station, along with several leading German media outlets, urged Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government to help them secure the exit from Afghanistan for their employees and their families. Last week, Amdullah Hamdard, 33, who translated for the U.S. Special Forces and later worked with the newspaper Die Zeit, was killed by Taliban fighters in Jalalabad, according to the newspaper. In recent days, the editors of the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post have joined in the evacuation efforts of staff members and their families. The editors asked the Biden administration to help facilitate the passage of his Afghan colleagues.
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban’s chief spokesman, told a news conference on Tuesday that the media “can continue to be free and independent.” But on Thursday, Taliban fighters beat two Afghan journalists while violently dispersing a protest in Jalalabad. The Committee to Protect Journalists, a New York-based watchdog group, noted other attacks on journalists, including the deadly shooting on August 9 of a radio station manager in Kabul and the kidnapping of a journalist in Helmand province. Afghan press freedom groups blamed the Taliban for the two incidents. An American journalist, Wesley Morgan, tweeted this week that the Taliban had searched the house of an Afghan interpreter he was working with.