“Taliban officials must immediately reverse their decision to suspend the broadcast licenses of 14 active media outlets in Nangarhar province that collectively reach millions of people,” said Beh Lih Yi, CPJ Asia program coordinator. “The Taliban continues to exert pressure on media outlets to control their programming and broadcasting operations in Afghanistan. They must cease these tactics and allow the independent media to operate freely.”

The order also stipulated that the outlets must renew their licenses and pay any outstanding fees or risk having all the outlet’s licenses revoked, according to CPJ’s review of the order, the exiled Afghanistan Journalists Center watchdog group, and a journalist who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity. 

ATRA is a regulatory body that operates as part of the Taliban’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology.

Outlets with suspended radio and TV licenses: 

• Hamisha Bahar Radio and TV
• Sharq 
• Arzasht 

Radio networks affected: 

• The Nan
• Radio Safa
• Meena 
• Radio Dost
• Mazal
• Manar
• Muram
• Haqiqat 
• Hood 
• Spinghar
• Ulfat

CPJ’s text messages to Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid for comment did not receive a reply.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.

On July 12, officers with the Taliban General Directorate of Intelligence stopped Baidar near the Eidgah Mosque in the eastern city of Jalalabad, covered his head with a sack, and forced him into a vehicle, according to news reports and an Afghan journalist familiar with his case who spoke to CPJ on the condition of anonymity due to fear of retaliation.

As of Friday, July 21, CPJ could not determine where Baidar, a reporter for the broadcaster Radio Safa who reported on current affairs and cultural issues, was being held or whether any charges had been filed against him.

“The Taliban must immediately and unconditionally release Afghan journalist Irfanullah Baidar,” said CPJ Asia Program Coordinator Beh Lih Yi. “Nearly two years since the Taliban seized power, Afghan journalists continue to face a relentless campaign of intimidation on a daily basis simply for doing their job.”

Radio Safa director Ismail Hazrati was quoted in those news reports saying that Baidar had worked with the station since 2009. Hazrati said that he had contacted Taliban authorities after the journalist’s disappearance but had not received any information about his whereabouts.

CPJ contacted Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid for comment via messaging app but did not receive any response.

In August 2022, CPJ published a special report about the media crisis in Afghanistan, showing a rapid deterioration in press freedom since the Taliban retook control of the country one year earlier, marked by censorship, arrests, assaults, and restrictions on Afghan journalists. Since the takeover, the General Directorate of Intelligence has emerged as a key threat to journalists in the country.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.