Afghanistan: No safety for journalists

Journalists in Afghanistan are facing increasing pressure and threats for doing their jobs, mainly from government authorities and regional warlords, the country's leading media association warned in the capital, Kabul, on Sept. 18. "It has become very challenging for journalists to report on the realities on the ground while they don't feel safe and free in the country," said Rahimullah Samander, President of the Afghanistan Independent Journalists Association (AIJA). "The threats are not only coming from the government side, but also from the Taliban and regional warlords," Samander maintained. The Afghan media watchdog has registered nearly 40 cases of violence against journalists over the past eight months of the year alone, including killings, beatings and imprisonments. In 2004, there were only 15 cases of violence, while in 2005 those cases reached 30 across the country. Officials of the AIJA said the US-led coalition and troops from the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), who have been stationed in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, were also creating trouble for journalists in reporting on counter-insurgency operations and its implications on the ground. "Journalists have [on several occasions] not been allowed by international peacekeeping forces in southern provinces to report freely on civilian casualties and displacements during their military operations," Samander remarked. Earlier this month, Mullah Dadullah, a top Taliban military commander in southern Afghanistan, warned that his men would target journalists who reported "wrong information" given by the US-led coalition or NATO forces that more than 200 Taliban had been killed in the Panjwayi district of Kandahar. Zia Bumai from the Committee to Protect Afghan Journalists said that violence against journalists was increasing, particularly in the volatile south and west of the country. "It seems cases [of violence against journalists] will double this year if urgent steps are not taken to ensure the safety of journalists in the country," Bumai said. On July 22, Afghan cameraman Abdul Qodus, 25, working for private TV channel Ariana, was killed in a second suicide attack which took place while he was filming the aftermath of the suicide bomb attack that killed two Canadian soldiers and many civilians in Kandahar city. Under the hardline Taliban regime there were only a few newspapers in Afghanistan and they were controlled by the state. The only radio station was Radio Shariat, which broadcast mainly religious programs. Television was banned. But nearly five years after the Taliban's fall, all that has changed. Around 300 publications are now registered with the Afghan Ministry of Information and Culture. There are also 63 radio stations and six private television channels operating across the country.