KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Local sources in eastern Parwan province report that Taliban intelligence agents have detained a local journalist in the region.
The sources identified the local journalist as Abdullah Danish, who was detained by Taliban agents on Thursday, June 13, in Bagram district and transferred to an undisclosed location.
According to the sources, Mr. Danish had previously worked as a reporter for state-run Education Television, Metra TV, and Radio Donya, a private radio channel in Parwan province.
The motive behind the journalist’s arrest remains unclear, and Taliban authorities have yet to comment on it.
This incident represents the most recent wave of journalist detentions by the Taliban following their return to power in Afghanistan. Over the past nearly three years, the regime has detained, tortured, and in some cases, even killed dozens of journalists in the country.
In most instances, the Taliban accuses journalists and media workers of collaborating with exiled media outlets and engaging in espionage for foreign media entities and groups that oppose the regime.
According to the Afghanistan Journalist Center (AFJC), an Afghan media watchdog, there are currently three journalists being “unjustly held” in Taliban prisons across the country.
The findings of AFJC indicate that over the past year alone, at least 64 journalists and media workers have been detained by the Taliban. Many of these cases, AFJC says, involve breaches of Taliban media regulations that conflict with Afghan media legislation.
The media watchdog said that while no journalists were physically harmed or killed in 2023, there has been a notable increase in Taliban interference through the General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) and the Ministry of Virtue and Vice.
In the 2024 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), Afghanistan under Taliban control was ranked 178th out of 180 countries, placing it just above Syria and Eritrea. RSF’s report, released in May, identified Afghanistan as one of the ten most dangerous countries for media personnel due to ongoing persecution by the Taliban.
On World Press Freedom Day, the UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) called for support and protection of Afghan journalists and media workers, underscoring their commitment to keeping the world informed about events in Afghanistan.
In a statement, Roza Otunbayeva, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and head of UNAMA, honored journalists throughout Afghanistan, recognizing their bravery in reporting the news, often facing significant personal risks.
