KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Local sources in eastern Nangarhar province report that Taliban intelligence agents have detained a local journalist who works for the Taliban-controlled Radio Television of Afghanistan (RTA).
Speaking with KabulNow today, sources identified the local journalist as Aziz Ahmad Wafa, who was detained near the RTA office in Jalalabad, the capital city, two weeks ago.
According to the sources, the Taliban agents have transferred the journalist to Nangarhar General Prison without disclosing the reason for his arrest.
Sources said that the journalist has been working as a reporter for the RTA office in Jalalabad for several years.
The Taliban authorities have not yet commented on the journalist’s arrest.
This incident marks the latest wave of journalist detentions by the Taliban since their return to power in Afghanistan. Over the past three years, the regime has detained, tortured, and, in some cases, even killed dozens of journalists in the country.
In the past three weeks, Taliban agents have detained two local journalists in southern Kandahar province, Mohammad Ibrahim Mohtaj and Mohammad Yar Majrooh, holding one for at least one week and the other for three weeks.
In a statement on Monday, the Afghanistan Journalist Center (AFJC) announced the release of the journalists, noting that their arrest was carried out without legal procedures and in violation of the country’s media laws.
According to a recent AFJC report, at least 89 cases of violence against journalists and media workers have been recorded in Afghanistan since January, including 60 threats and 29 arrests.
In many cases, the Taliban accuses journalists and media workers of collaborating with exiled media outlets and engaging in espionage for foreign entities and groups that oppose the regime.
Furthermore, over the past three years, Afghanistan’s once-thriving free-press sector has nearly collapsed, with dozens of outlets closed or silenced under various accusations and hundreds of journalists and media professionals forced to flee the country.
Yesterday AFJC reported that the Taliban authorities in Nangarhar have suspended the operations of 17 media outlets, Radio and Televisions, in the province, citing unpaid taxes.
In April of this year, the Taliban Ministry of Information and Culture suspended the broadcasts of two private television channels, ‘Noor’ and ‘Barya,’ in Kabul, citing violations of “journalistic principles and Islamic values.”
