51 journalists and media staff were killed in Afghanistan Since 2001. The scenario is making the country one of the most fatal years since the end of Taliban rule in 2001. This is for the constantly increasing home-media corps. The speed has risen recently and within the last two months, five reporters have been killed.
Most dangerous in many places is the fact that wealth, confidentiality and criminality cross over from one stage to the next. Stories about links between gangs and leaders in Mexico, the bribery case in the Philippines. Also, the illegal acts of Egyptian governments. Whereas, Turkey have all contributed to the arrest, assault and even the killing of journalists for supersedes allegations.
Journalists Killed in Afghanistan
The list of killed journalists in Afghanistan since the War on Terror is too long. But in East Afghanistan, 3 young females were not investigative real journalists but were gunned down on Tuesday outside the Enikass TV station Jalalabad where they worked. They did not expose bribery or crime. A department that records voice-overs for international programmes, Morsal Wahididy, 25, Sadia Sadat, 20, and Shahnaz Raofi, 20, have been employed.
The Islamic State subsidiary that was responsible for the killings in the country said that the reporters were targeted for working for “media stations true to the atheist government of Afghanistan. In other words, working clearly in independent media. However, it was a reason that they were women, who were attacked systematically in 2 different attacks.
They were killed for the basic resistance in Afghanistan about the existence of the State itself in a loud moment. That fight seems to be against rebel groups that aim to shift to an extreme ideology of the Islamic government. Mainly a strengthened Taliban revolt. This government is democratically backed by the Western.
List of assassinated Afghan Journalists Since 2001
S. No. | Name | Organization | Date | Location | Type of Death |
1 | Abadullah Hananzai | Radio Azadi,Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty | April 30, 2018 | Afghanistan | Murder |
2 | Abdul Manan Arghand | Kabul News | April 25, 2018 | Afghanistan | Murder |
3 | Abdul Qodus | Aryana TV | July 22, 2006 | Afghanistan | Dangerous Assignment |
4 | Abdul Samad Rohani | BBC and Pajhwok Afghan News | June 7 or 8, 2008 | Afghanistan | Murder |
5 | Ahmad Omaid Khpalwak | Pajhwok Afghan News, BBC | July 28, 2011 | Afghanistan | Crossfire |
6 | Ajmal Naqshbandi | freelance | April 8, 2007 | Afghanistan | Murder |
7 | Ali Saleemi | Mashal TV | April 30, 2018 | Afghanistan | Murder |
8 | Anja Niedringhaus | The Associated Press | April 4, 2014 | Afghanistan | Dangerous Assignment |
9 | Azizullah Haidari | Reuters | November 19, 2001 | Afghanistan | Murder |
10 | Carsten Thomassen | Dagbladet | January 15, 2008 | Afghanistan | Dangerous Assignment |
11 | Christian Struwe | freelance | October 7, 2006 | Afghanistan | Murder |
12 | David Gilkey | National Public Radio | June 5, 2016 | Afghanistan | Crossfire |
13 | Elyas Dayee | Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty | November 12, 2020 | Afghanistan | Murder |
14 | Farhad Taqaddosi | Press TV | September 20, 2011 | Afghanistan | Crossfire |
15 | Ghazi Rasooli | 1TV | April 30, 2018 | Afghanistan | Murder |
16 | Habibollah Hosseinzadeh | Press TV | May 31, 2017 | Afghanistan | Dangerous Assignment |
17 | Harry Burton | Reuters Television | November 19, 2001 | Afghanistan | Murder |
18 | Hussain Nazari | Rah-E-Farda Radio and Television | November 17, 2017 | Afghanistan | Dangerous Assignment |
19 | James P. Hunter | Fort Campbell Courier, U.S. military publications | June 24, 2010 | Afghanistan | Crossfire |
20 | Johanne Sutton | Radio France Internationale | November 11, 2001 | Afghanistan | Crossfire |
21 | Julio Fuentes | El Mundo | November 19, 2001 | Afghanistan | Murder |
22 | Karen Fischer | freelance | October 7, 2006 | Afghanistan | Murder |
23 | Maharram Durrani | Radio Azadi,Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty | April 30, 2018 | Afghanistan | Murder |
24 | Malalai Maiwand | Enikass Radio and TV | December 10, 2020 | Afghanistan | Murder |
25 | Marc Brunereau | freelance | September 5, 2001 | Afghanistan | Crossfire |
26 | Maria Grazia Cutuli | Corriere della Serra | November 19, 2001 | Afghanistan | Murder |
27 | Michelle Lang | Calgary Herald and Canwest News Service | December 30, 2009 | Afghanistan | Crossfire |
28 | Mir Wahed Shah | Khurshid TV | May 30, 2020 | Afghanistan | Murder |
29 | Mohammad Nasir Mudasir | Melli Paigham Radio | December 15, 2016 | Afghanistan | Murder |
30 | Mohammad Salim Angaar | Radio Television Afghanistan | October 18, 2018 | Afghanistan | Dangerous Assignment |
31 | Naimatullah Zaheer | Ariana News | November 4, 2016 | Afghanistan | Crossfire |
32 | Nils Horner | Sveriges Radio | March 11, 2014 | Afghanistan | Dangerous Assignment |
33 | Nowroz Ali Rajabi | 1TV | April 30, 2018 | Afghanistan | Murder |
34 | Pierre Billaud | Radio Télévision Luxembourg | November 11, 2001 | Afghanistan | Crossfire |
35 | Rahmatullah Nikzad | Freelance | December 21, 2020 | Afghanistan | Murder |
36 | Ramiz Ahmadi | TOLO News | September 5, 2018 | Afghanistan | Dangerous Assignment |
37 | Rupert Hamer | Sunday Mirror | January 10, 2010 | Afghanistan | Crossfire |
38 | Sabawoon Kakar | Radio Azadi,Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty | April 30, 2018 | Afghanistan | Murder |
39 | Saleem Talash | Mashal TV | April 30, 2018 | Afghanistan | Murder |
40 | Samim Faramarz | TOLO News | September 5, 2018 | Afghanistan | Dangerous Assignment |
41 | Sayed Mehdi Husaini | Jomhor News Agency | December 28, 2017 | Afghanistan | Dangerous Assignment |
42 | Sayeed Khuda Dad Ahamdi | Afghan Voice Agency | December 28, 2017 | Afghanistan | Dangerous Assignment |
43 | Shafiq Amiri | Khurshid TV | May 30, 2020 | Afghanistan | Murder |
44 | Shah Marai | Agence France-Presse | April 30, 2018 | Afghanistan | Murder |
45 | Sultan Mohammed Munadi | The New York Times | September 9, 2009 | Afghanistan | Dangerous Assignment |
46 | Ulf Strömberg | TV4 | November 26, 2001 | Afghanistan | Murder |
47 | Volker Handloik | freelance reporter | November 11, 2001 | Afghanistan | Crossfire |
48 | Yar Mohammad Tokhi | TOLO News | April 30, 2018 | Afghanistan | Murder |
49 | Zabihullah Tamanna | National Public Radio | June 5, 2016 | Afghanistan | Crossfire |
50 | Zakia Zaki | Sada-i-Sulh | June 4, 2007 | Afghanistan | Murder |
51 | Zubair Hatami | Mitra TV | December 21, 2014 | Afghanistan | Dangerous Assignment |
American Military In Afghanistan
The government has formally consigned protections for women and minority groups not permitted during the rough rule of the Taliban. Until 2001 during the last 20 years of American military and diplomatic intervention in Afghanistan. Now, these groups fear that the Taliban will back in some way as the Defense Department continues to leave and as the peace talks stumble between Afghanistan and the Taliban.
But before a formal contract on political reform or a win, radicals demand and aggressively implement a new order. That is attacked as enemies by human rights activists, journalists, lawyers and other peaceful political members. Therefore the future of journalism in Afghanistan is at stake.
Journalism and Afghanistan
Although the Islamic State does not operate in support of the Taliban and often both sides are opposed. The brutality by the group certainly has fostered the fear the Taliban are attempting to infuse with their target murders. It’s not only to eliminate possible opposition but also to give the rebels’ win a sense of desperation and to exert a burden on the system to meet the requests of the Taliban during the peace negotiations.
Afghan Journalists in the post-terror-war era, and especially female journalists, are becoming victims in rising numbers. Another woman was shot dead outside the Jalalabad station in December. Malalai Maiwand was a 26-year-old radio broadcast journalist.
According to a new United Nations survey, over 30 media staff and journalists have been killed in Afghanistan since 2018. It has been terrible for all of them and other democratic society leaders since the peace talks began in September 2020.
How to protect Journalists on the deadly frontline of Afghanistan
According to Reporters Without Borders, more journalists were killed in Afghanistan in the last 2 years than in any other place.
The struggle between many of Afghanistan’s media organizations was very expensive. The reporters are pressured to be the first on the attack scenes and broadcast the best shots live.
The Coordinator of the Asian Program for Protecting Journalists said that reporters, their organizations and military forces should take preventive actions in Afghanistan.
Also during the 5-year regime in the late 1990s, the Taliban enforced strict limitations on the media. They suspended TV and used government radio and print media as propaganda channels. Since starting peace talks with US officials in 2018, the group has shown more flexibility to journalists.
The Taliban now provides limited, highly regulated media access to the relevant areas. Their spokespersons provide interviews and release news frequently using technologies the group once prohibited.
Final Word
The Afghan media have prospered in the last two decades in metropolitan areas under government control. There have been dozens of television stations and hundreds of print and online print sources. Afghan journalists have revealed injustice and published millions of accounts of human rights harassments. But the improvements remain tiny and many journalists believe that if the Taliban rises to influence or plays a major role in social life, they will undo them.