Afghanistan's Media Freedom in Retreat as Taliban Advances

ISLAMABAD - The day the Taliban entered Balkh district, 20 km west of Mazar e Sharif, the capital of Balkh province last month, local radio station Nawbahar shuttered its doors and most of its journalists went into hiding.

Within days the station started broadcasting again, but the programming was different. Rather than the regular line-up, Nawbahar was playing Islamist anthems and shows produced by the Taliban. The switch in programming is a far cry from how Nawbahar usually operates. The station started up in the northern province in 2004—broadcasting news and entertainment in Dari and Pashto languages thanks to funds from the U.S. Agency for International Development. Its experience reflects a growing trend for Afghanistan’s independent media. As the security situation deteriorates, so does the situation for all the other gains the country made in the last 20 years, including press freedom.