EIGHT in every nine newspapers in Afghanistan has closed and the number of journalists has more than halved in the two years since the Taliban took power, a report reveals today.

The finding of the Afghan National Journalists Union (ANJU) show the Islamist movement’s chilling impact on free media since its forces routed a 20-year US-led occupation of the country in August 2021.

When Western forces fled, Afghanistan had 160 television channels, 311 radio stations, 90 print newspapers and 26 news agencies, the report says, but today all sectors have seen steep declines: there are just nine news agencies (a 65 per cent drop), 211 radio stations (a fall of 32 per cent), 70 TV channels (56 per cent down and, most dramatically, just 11 newspapers, (an 88 per cent reduction).

“Those journalists who continue to work face the most daunting conditions,” the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) says. “Since the Taliban takeover, seven have died, 14 have been injured and 26 have been arrested. Legal challenges, harassment and intimidation are commonplace.”

Aside from a decline in the range of media outlets, the number of female journalists has fallen sharply from 25 per cent of the profession to 15 per cent, as the Taliban cracks down on women’s rights to work and live independently.

What remaining outlets can report on is subject to tight restrictions. ANJU chief executive Ahmad Shoaib Fana said: “Censorship and self-censorship have become rampant, with journalists navigating the perilous territory of permissible content. Threats, intimidation and violence have created an atmosphere of fear and caused an exodus of skilled journalists. Access to unbiased information has dwindled, leaving citizens ill informed.”

The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, as the Taliban call its state, has also cracked down on social media, with a ban on the Chinese TikTok platform and restricted access to the US-based Facebook and X (formerly known as Twitter) sites.

Mr Fana called for “collaborative efforts between the Islamic emirate, the international community and media support organisations … to prevent the collapse of Afghanistan's media landscape.”

IFJ deputy general secretary Tim Dawson urged the government to “safeguard remaining media,” observing that “the destruction of so much of Afghanistan’s free media is among the most striking and shocking consequences of the regime change in that country.”