Azadi Briefing

Welcome to The Azadi Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that unpacks the key issues in Afghanistan. To subscribe, click here.

I'm Abubakar Siddique, a senior correspondent at RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. Here's what I've been tracking and what I'm keeping an eye on in the days ahead.

The Key Issue

An Afghan press-freedom watchdog says media freedom continues to decline as the Taliban marks three years in power.

In a new report on August 13, the Afghanistan Journalist Center (AFJC) said the Taliban's brutal treatment of the media was on the rise.

Its government issued "new guidelines" to reign in the once vibrant Afghan press, which was already reeling from pressure to implement 14 detailed instructions the group had issued during the previous two years.

The report said that during the past year of Taliban rule, it decreed what kind of language and terminologies the Afghan print and electronic media should use.

As part of its growing restrictions, the group has banned photography and filming of all meetings in the southern province of Kandahar, where Taliban Supreme Leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada lives.

Hamid Obidi, the head of the AFJC, said the Taliban's three years in power had proved it doesn't believe "in a free press and the citizen's right to access free information."

The AFJC documented 181 cases of threats, detentions, and convictions of journalists from August 2023 to the present.

Exiled Afghan journalists in the West say the Taliban has detained more than 300 journalists during the past three years.

Why It's Important: The Taliban has attempted to systematically dismantle the freedoms previously enjoyed by the Afghan press because it sees it as a legacy of the fallen Afghan republic and its Western allies.

The Islamist group has not honored any of its early promises to allow freedom of the press. Instead, it wants Afghan journalists to “reorient their thinking,” according to the AFJC, whose report cites statements by senior Taliban officials.

Taliban actions speak much louder than its promises. Intimidation by its officials has forced hundreds of journalists into exile. Taliban restrictions or the loss of Western funding has forced scores of Afghan media outlets to shut down.

In order to deny Afghans access to the free flow of information, it has banned international broadcasters whose content in Pashto and Dari is widely popular. The Taliban has also denied visas to independent foreign correspondents.

What's Next: The Taliban has been quite successful in shaping a media environment inside Afghanistan that serves its government.

Its restrictions even prompt independent media outlets inside Afghanistan to self-censor and avoid critical reporting.

Waning international interest in Afghanistan and the lack of access to the country make in-depth reporting from the government very difficult.

All this has paved the way for the Taliban to replace journalism with propaganda.

What To Keep An Eye On

Ten major international nongovernmental aid groups have called for more Western donor engagement with the Taliban's unrecognized government.

CARE, the Danish Refugee Council, Save the Children International, and other groups have called on Western capitals to rethink their approach to the Taliban.

"Diplomatic engagement is crucial to creating an enabling environment in Afghanistan that will support upscaling international aid efforts to include development projects alongside emergency assistance," the NGOs said in a joint statement on August 13.

International donors have suspended most of their funding for Afghanistan over the Taliban's ban on most education and employment for women and its reportedly extensive human rights abuses.

The statement said the current "isolationist approach" of donor countries does not help alleviate the suffering of Afghans as they face one of the world's largest humanitarian crises.

More than half of Afghanistan's 40 million population needs humanitarian assistance, but funding for the crises is declining, with only 25 percent of the funds pledged for the current UN humanitarian appeal of more than $3 billion.

Why It's Important: The statement is part of a new trend that favors engagement over pressure to change the Taliban's behavior.

It is, however, not clear whether the Taliban will commit to reversing its extremist policies if its government is recognized and receives international assistance.

That's all from me for now.

Don't forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you have. You can always reach us at azadi.english@rferl.org

Until next time,

Abubakar Siddique

If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here. It will be sent to your inbox every Friday.

Welcome to The Azadi Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that unpacks the key issues in Afghanistan. To subscribe, click here.

I'm Abubakar Siddique, a senior correspondent at RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. Here's what I've been tracking and what I'm keeping an eye on in the days ahead.

The Key Issue

Afghans have widely criticized a viral video showing two Iranian police officers brutally restraining an Afghan teenager on a road in the capital, Tehran.

The victim, Mahdi Musavi, 16, is unconscious and under treatment for injuries he sustained when a police officer kneeled on his neck. At the same time, another plainclothes man held him tightly to the ground.

“I do not wish such a day for my enemies,” said Masuma Mohammadi, his mother. “My son suffers from hearing and speech disorders.”

The video, which first emerged on August 7, is amplifying Afghan fears that their increasing harassment and abuse in Iran is aimed at expelling the more than 4.3 million Afghan refugees and migrants that the UN estimates are currently living in the country.

During the past year, Iran expelled some 500,000 Afghans after its government announced a campaign to force undocumented foreigners to leave the country.

Why It's Important: Negative sentiments against Afghans have been rising in Iran since the growing influx of mostly impoverished Afghans began after the Taliban returned to power three years ago.

Iranian officials have consistently blamed Afghan migrants for crimes, unemployment, and other problems.

During the past year, Tehran’s campaign to expel undocumented foreigners appears to have affected the treatment of Afghans, with incidents of police brutality and mob violence against them on the rise.

On August 7, Iran’s semiofficial Mehr News Agency reported that police arrested 50 Afghans in Tehran’s Shahriar county as part of an “emergency plan to gather undocumented Afghans.”

Statements by Iranian officials indicate that an official drive to create conditions to force impoverished Afghans to leave by the end of the year is in full force.

On August 6, Majid Shuja, the commander of border forces in Iran’s northeastern Razavi Khorasan Province, said his forces have arrested and deported more than 15,000 Afghans to the neighboring Afghan province of Herat so far this year.

Ahmad Moqori, a senior law enforcement official in the northwestern East Azerbaijan Province, said Afghans can no longer live in the region even if they have legal documents allowing them to reside there.

East Azerbaijan is the latest among the growing number of Iran’s 31 provinces where Afghans can no longer live.

What's Next: Afghans are often likely to be victims of mob violence and abuse by Iranian law enforcement.

Yet widespread poverty and skyrocketing unemployment in Afghanistan is likely to push large numbers of Afghans to continue to look for work in Iran.

What To Keep An Eye On

Climate change has displaced more Afghans during the first six months of this year than all of last year.

More than 38,000 Afghans were forced to leave their homes by the end of June compared to more than 37,000 in all of 2023.

Save the Children, a nongovernmental organization, said its analysis of the preliminary data collected by the International Displacement Monitoring Center shows that landslides, floods, avalanches, storms, droughts, and extreme temperatures are now the leading causes of why Afghans abandon their homes.

Since 1980, over four decades of war have turned Afghans into one of the largest displaced populations globally. But beginning in 2022, more Afghans are now being displaced by natural disasters caused by climate change.

“Afghanistan also had the highest number of children made homeless by climate disasters of any country in the world as of the end of 2023,” said the briefing.

Some 747,094 Afghan children were displaced by the end of last year.

Afghans are South Asia’s largest long-term displaced group and the second-most displaced globally, slightly behind Syrians.

Why It's Important: Afghanistan is one of the most vulnerable countries to the ravages of climate change.

But its cash-strapped Taliban government can do little to adapt and mitigate as international development funding disappears.

That's all from me for now.

Don't forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you have. You can always reach us at azadi.english@rferl.org

Until next time,

Abubakar Siddique

If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here. It will be sent to your inbox every Friday.