KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Media freedom in Afghanistan has sharply declined under four years of Taliban rule, with journalists facing arrest, torture, and censorship, and Hazara and female reporters enduring the harshest abuse, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a new report.
The report, released Thursday, is based on 31 interviews conducted in August 2025 — including 18 with journalists inside Afghanistan and 13 with exiled reporters in Türkiye — paints a bleak picture of a media landscape gripped by fear, repression, and strict control.
HRW said the Taliban’s intelligence agency and the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice systematically monitor and censor media content, enforcing gender segregation, strict dress codes, and compelling reporters to publish “safe,” pre-approved stories.
“Taliban officials increasingly compel Afghan journalists to produce ‘safe,’ pre-approved stories, and they punish those who step out of line with arbitrary detention and torture,” said Fereshta Abbasi, HRW’s Afghanistan researcher.
The report found that ethnic Hazara journalists face particularly severe mistreatment in Taliban detention centers. One Hazara reporter told HRW that Taliban intelligence officers taunted him during detention, saying, “A Hazara kid dared to speak against us? We won the war with the Americans… We can kill you whenever we want.” Another said he was told, “If you were speaking Pashto, your crimes would have been less.”
Several journalists described physical abuse and torture during interrogations. One said he was suffocated with a plastic bag and beaten while accused of working with exile-based media. Another said he was convicted of propaganda against the Taliban and threatened with death despite having no access to a lawyer.
Female journalists, HRW said, have been almost completely pushed out of the profession. Many are banned from offices, forced to work from home, or required to travel with male guardians. In some provinces, no women work in media at all, while in others, female reporters are under constant surveillance by the Taliban’s morality police.
“While all Afghan journalists have been affected and many have fled the country, women journalists have been among the hardest hit,” Abbasi said.
Beyond Afghanistan’s borders, exiled Afghan journalists face mounting challenges. HRW said more than 1,000 media workers have fled since 2021, with many living in Türkiye or Pakistan without legal protection or stable status.
In Türkiye, exiled journalists report difficulty obtaining asylum or work permits, with some saying Taliban-linked consular staff have harassed or threatened them. “When I went to renew my passport, they accused me of biased reporting,” one female journalist told HRW.
In Pakistan, authorities have stopped issuing or renewing visas for Afghan nationals, leaving over 150 journalists at risk of deportation. Meanwhile, Some Afghan journalists in the United States remain at risk after the expiration of their Temporary Protected Status (TPS) in mid-2025. One reporter said a major U.S. media outlet refused to support his asylum claim, citing fears of retaliation under the current administration.
HRW called on the Taliban to end arbitrary detention, torture, and censorship, and to lift restrictions on women journalists. The group also urged host countries, including Pakistan and Türkiye, to halt deportations, investigate alleged abuses in detention, and provide training, funding, and mental health support for journalists in exile.
“The Taliban’s oppression of the media has increased as the need for independent news outlets in Afghanistan becomes ever greater,” Abbasi said. “The US, UK, Germany, and other governments that promised to resettle Afghans should extend their support to Afghan journalists at risk and cease all deportations to Afghanistan.”
