Since the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan, the country’s media landscape has come under unprecedented pressure. Strict measures and restrictions imposed by the Taliban now threaten the complete shutdown of media outlets across the nation.
Following the signing of a directive under the guise of Amr bil Maroof wa Nahi anil Munkar (Commanding Good and Forbidding Evil) by Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s supreme leader, Afghanistan’s media has faced severe limitations. This law prohibits the depiction of living beings, including humans, in any form of media or even storing such images on devices like mobile phones and computers.
According to this directive, Taliban enforcers are tasked with preventing the dissemination of any visuals involving living beings in both visual and print media. Activities such as photography, videography, and their publication have now been criminalized, marking the first time journalists and media professionals in Afghanistan have been officially labeled as offenders for performing their duties.
Gradual Implementation of Media Restrictions
The Taliban have been systematically silencing visual media outlets. The Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has announced that the ban on visual content will be enforced incrementally.
Initially, in Kandahar Province, Taliban officials instructed local authorities to issue news updates without images. Soon after, Afghanistan’s national TV in the region ceased operations. The ban gradually extended to other provinces, including Takhar, Khost, and Badghis, leading to the shutdown of local TV networks.
Most recently, Taliban officials prohibited regional representatives from giving on-camera interviews. This measure has already been implemented in Nangarhar, Herat, and Paktia provinces.
These steps have pushed television networks and visual media closer to a complete shutdown. While the ban has not yet been enforced in Kabul and other provinces, experts believe the Taliban will gradually impose it nationwide. Afghanistan could once again become a country without imagery—a situation last seen during the Taliban’s first rule in the late 1990s.
Suppressing Documentation of Taliban Abuses
Human rights activists believe the Taliban’s restrictions aim to prevent documentation of their crimes. Over the past three years, numerous images and videos of extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detentions, torture, and other acts of violence by the Taliban have surfaced. On some occasions, even the Taliban themselves recorded and shared footage of their abuses, including assaults on female prisoners.
These restrictions not only threaten freedom of speech and information but also pave the way for more heinous crimes. Activists fear that without the ability to capture and document evidence, the Taliban may escalate acts of violence, including mass killings and targeting of women and minority groups.
International Condemnation
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has described the Taliban’s ban on visuals and criminalization of media activities as a calculated move to dismantle press freedom. RSF emphasizes that these measures are designed to plunge the country into a media blackout, enabling widespread human rights violations.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) issued an official statement warning that these policies not only endanger media professionals but also create an atmosphere of fear and distrust among journalists. Many have already been forced to abandon their careers or flee the country. CPJ has urged the international community to pressure the Taliban to restore press freedoms.
Similarly, the United Nations and its affiliated agencies, including the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, have condemned the Taliban’s actions against the media, calling them a violation of Afghanistan’s international commitments. They stress that press freedom is a fundamental human right that cannot be overridden by ideological excuses.
In addition to these organizations, Western countries such as the United States and members of the European Union have individually denounced the Taliban’s actions. They have demanded that the group respect press freedom and the rights of journalists. Some of these countries have even extended financial and technical support to exiled Afghan media outlets to ensure journalists’ voices are not entirely silenced.
A Grim Future for Afghan Media
Despite international pressure, Afghanistan’s media sector has shown remarkable resilience in the face of restrictions. However, if the Taliban fully implement these measures, Afghanistan could, for the second time in its modern history, become a country devoid of visual storytelling—a land where not only journalists’ voices but the people’s voices are silenced.
As Afghanistan teeters on the edge of a media blackout, the global community faces the challenge of ensuring that the country’s press freedom and the fundamental rights of its citizens are upheld. The question remains: will the world act in time to save the voices of Afghanistan’s journalists and citizens?
