On May 30, 2020, a journalist and a studio technician died, in an IED explosion as a bus carrying the employees of Kabul-based Khurshid TV was attacked. The attack was later claimed by Daesh militants. This is not the first time the employees of the Khurshid TV network were targeted by Daesh militants. Earlier on August 4, 2019, a bus carrying some staff members of the TV network was targeted in the north of Kabul, leaving two dead. 

Some of the recent incidents targeting journalist and media house employees include: On September 24, 2019, Abdul Hamid Hotaki, a presenter at Hewad Radio Station in Kandahar, was killed in an IED explosion near President Ghani’s campaign office in Kandahar. Four people were also killed in the explosion and seven others were wounded. On July 13, 2019, Nader Shah Sahibzada, a reporter for Voice of Gardiz local radio, was found dead near his home in Gardiz, the capital city of Paktia Province. He went missing a day earlier. On May 11, 2019, Mena Mangal, a former journalist and a cultural advisor to the Wolesi Jirga, the Lower House of Parliament, was killed in the Kart-e-Naw area of Kabul. Mangal had worked as a news presenter for three local TV networks in Kabul, including LEMAR TV, Shamshad News, and Ariana TV. On March 16, 2019, unidentified militants killed a local journalist, Sultan Mahmoud Khairkhwah, in the west of Khost city. The slain journalist was working for the Zan TV network in Khost Province.

Growing toll 

According to the data compiled by Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 68 journalists and media workers were killed in Afghanistan between 1992 and 2020. Earlier, Paris-based, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), reported that Afghanistan was the world’s deadliest country for journalists in 2018 followed by Syria. The group said in its annual report in late December 2018 that 15 journalists have been killed in Afghanistan and 11 others have been killed in Syria, making both countries the deadliest places for journalists around the world.

However, the Afghanistan Journalist Center (AFJC) on November 2, 2019, said 109 journalists and media employees have been killed in Afghanistan during 2001-2019. Further, according to March 17, 2019 report, AFJC monitored a 21 percent increase in cases of violence and threats against reporters and media workers on March 21, 2019-20, March 20, 2020, in Afghanistan. It documented 116 cases of violence, threats, insults, and harassment against journalists and media workers in the said period.

Journalists and media workers in Afghanistan are often killed due to bombings and shootings in targeted attacks. Taliban and Islamic State (IS)/ Daesh is mostly responsible for the attacks on journalists and media staff. They target journalists for silencing freedom of the press.

In the month of June 2019, the Taliban warned Afghan media outlets that if they do not stop what the militant group called ‘anti-Taliban statements’, they would be targeted. According to the statement:

“if every local and national FM radios, TV channels and other media outlets do not seize such activities within a one-week period then the Taliban will not consider these outlets as media channels but as enemy intelligence nerve centers…these media shall become military targets for the group in the capital, provinces, cities and rural areas and none of their offices, journalists, workers, and personnel shall retain any immunity.”

There are multiple reasons behind the attack on journalists and media workers. One of the main reasons behind these terror attacks is the media's ability to articulate public opinion and significant space coverage, especially in newspapers on the issue of terrorism. The militants and various violent groups want to suppress the 'voice of reason' and in doing so they target the media with utmost force and hatred. The factor of impunity is one of the main reasons for continued atrocity towards journalists and media. Also, the failure of Afghan authorities to address such impunity effectively sends a signal that any individual or group with the means and intent can literally get away with murder.

Interestingly, on May 3, 2020, Deborah Lyons, Special Representative and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), stressed in a statement that the world body has a commitment to defend Afghanistan’s free press, and will support free media so all journalists can operate without fear of being harassed, intimidated or attacked. She stated, “The United Nations remains firm in its position that media freedom must be protected as part of any peace process. All parties in any peace negotiations must uphold all fundamental human rights, including the right to freedom of expression, which is enshrined in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Nothing should be allowed to threaten the critical advances in press freedom in Afghanistan.”

Journalistic safety in question

The Afghan Journalist Safety Committee (AJSC), a national non-governmental organisation (NGO) which is Afghanistan's premier watchdog organization dedicated to promoting the safety of journalists and press freedom, help in implementing a national emergency response programme for journalists and monitors threats against the media. They made improving relations between the media and security forces a significant part of its work. Their steps include organising regular meetings between media and security forces and police training at the police academy to address best practices and procedures on journalists’ safety. Two important aspects of this work have been that they have engaged with officials and security personnel based in different provinces throughout the country, and integrated a long-term strategy, with regular meetings and other contacts rather than a one-off series. AJSC has published a "road map"  to safeguard press freedoms throughout the reconciliation process. They also criticized government officials for neglecting to demand press freedom guarantees from the Taliban, and for failing to include journalists in negotiations.

As per official figures, some 1,700 private TV, radio, print, and online mediums are operating in Afghanistan while as nearly two decades ago only a handful of media organisations were serving in the country. Also, as Afghan officials push to restart the stalled reconciliation talks, they insist that press freedom will be ‘considered’. “Freedom of speech and freedom of expression, including the operation of Afghan free media, is one of the biggest achievements of the Afghan government over the past 19 years," said government spokesperson Feroz Bashari, as reported on May 27, 2020. "We will consider this important achievement during talks with the Taliban,” he added.

But in reality, it will be a tough bargain between the establishment and non-state violent players with respect to freedom of the press. As the media houses are considered to be spreading the government’s ‘propaganda’ and also with the constant threat of being reported, the terror organisations will continue to stifle media houses and on the other hand, the threat of being killed in terror attacks will intimidate the journalists and media workers reporting from the field. It’s a complex scenario, in which the Afghan establishment will eventually need to come up with a viable solution to the persistent danger hovering over various media establishments in the country.

(The writer is a Research Fellow, Institute for Conflict Management. The views expressed are personal. She can be contacted at sanchita.bhat83@gmail.com)