KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Afghanistan remains one of the worst countries for press freedom, ranking 175th out of 180 in the latest global index published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) on Friday.
The 2025 Press Freedom Index gave Afghanistan a score of 17.88 out of 100, placing it near the bottom alongside countries like Iran, Syria, China, North Korea, and Eritrea. Norway, Estonia, and the Netherlands topped the list with the highest scores.
While Afghanistan has moved slightly up from 178th in 2024, RSF says press conditions continue to deteriorate under Taliban rule. At least 12 media outlets were forced to shut down last year due to new restrictions imposed by the group.
“Since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, the media landscape has been decimated,” RSF said. “In the space of three months, 43% of Afghan media outlets disappeared. More than two-thirds of the 12,000 journalists in the country have left the profession, and eight out of ten women journalists have stopped working.”
Journalists, particularly women, face threats of arrest, harassment, and physical violence at the hands of Taliban forces and the General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI), RSF said. Reporters working for foreign outlets or in exile are especially at risk.
According to RSF, self-censorship dominates Afghanistan’s remaining media. Criticism of the Taliban is forbidden, and topics such as women’s rights, religion, and minority issues are off limits. In some provinces, journalists must submit articles to local Taliban authorities for approval before publication.
The country’s economic collapse has also devastated the media sector, RSF said. With international aid dwindling, outlets struggle to survive, and journalism has become an increasingly precarious profession.
Since taking control of Afghanistan, the Taliban have steadily tightened their grip on the media, issuing more than 20 directives that severely restrict press freedom and limit access to information.
These measures have led to the near-collapse of Afghanistan’s once-vibrant media sector, with dozens of outlets shut down or silenced and hundreds of journalists and media professionals forced into exile.
