Islamic Emirate backs media in Afghanistan

KABUL (Tolo News): The deputy minister of information and culture for publications, Hayatullah Muhajir Farahi, said that the issues facing the media will be resolved. In a special interview with TOLOnews, Farahi noted that the directorate has replaced the commission for access to information.
“The Islamic Emirate and especially the Ministry of Information and Culture support the media in every way, and we continue our efforts to support the media,” he told TOLOnews. Farahi said the situation for foreign journalists has improved, and that more than 700 journalists have visited Afghanistan in the past year.
“700 journalists have visited Afghanistan in the past year and have prepared reports for their relevant institutions,” Farahi said. Meanwhile, media supporting organizations said the Islamic Emirate and the world should pay greater attention to the challenges facing the media in Afghanistan.
“The Islamic Emirate should provide ways for access to information and it should pay attention to the safety of journalists,” said Farhad Behroz, deputy head of Afghanistan Independent Journalists Association (AIJA). This comes as, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in a report said that 1,668 journalists were killed in war zones in the past 20 years.
“During the past two decades, 80% of the media fatalities have occurred in 15 countries. The two countries with the highest death tolls are Iraq and Syria, with a combined total of 578 journalists killed in the past 20 years, or more than a third of the worldwide total. They are followed by Afghanistan, Yemen and Palestine. Africa has not been spared, with Somalia coming next,” according to the RSF report. In its yearly report, Afghanistan Journalists Center said that 260 cases of violence against journalists and media outlets as well as arrests and other forms of violent treatment have been reported in 2022.