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RSF calls on Afghan govt to protect journalists
Reporters Without Borders on Thursday called for the Afghan government to make every effort to protect media workers in Afghanistan.
In a statement issued by the organization, RSF also said it was exploring all possible ways to help end the spiral of violence in the country.
This comes amid a string of assassinations of media workers in the country - the latest being on January 1 of Ghor radio journalist Bismillah Adel Imaq.
Imaq, the director of the Voice of Ghor radio station, was gunned down as he was returning home in Firoz Koh, the capital of Ghor, on the afternoon of 1 January. He become the first Afghan journalist to be assassinated in 2021 and the fifth media worker to be killed in the past two months.
Imaq had been the target of two prior assassination attempts, the latest in November, and had reported the threats against him to the authorities. After they took no steps to protect him, he filed complaints with journalists’ associations.
The other media victims of the past two months are Mohammad Aliyas Dayee of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Pashto-language service, murdered in Lashkargah on 12 November, Malalai Maiwand, a TV presenter and representative of the Centre for the Protection of Afghan Women Journalists (CPAWJ), and her driver Taher Khan, who were murdered in Jalalabad on 10 December, and Rahmatollah Nekzad, a reporter for international media, who was gunned down in Ghazni on 21 December.
The National Directorate of Security (NDS) and the police say that eight individuals linked to the Taliban have been arrested as suspects in these four murders.
“The impunity and opaqueness surrounding the murders of journalists are a major scourge in Afghanistan, but a godsend for all those seeking to destroy press freedom in this country,” said Reza Moini, the head of RSF’s Iran-Afghanistan desk.
“It is vital that the Afghan authorities guarantee and reinforce the safety of media personnel. At the same time, RSF is exploring all possible international remedies for ending the spiral of violence,” he said.
In a letter to Congress, President Joe Biden emphasized that US troops remain postured outside Afghanistan to counter threats that may arise from the country.
“United States military personnel remain postured outside Afghanistan to address threats to the United States homeland and United States interests that may arise from inside Afghanistan,” Biden said in the War Powers Report released by the White House on Friday.
The US presence in Afghanistan ended in August 2021 after 20 years of war following an agreement with the Islamic Emirate.
The Islamic Emirate has pledged in the agreement not to allow Afghanistan's territory to be used against other countries.
The Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abdul Qahar Balkhi on Friday expressed disappointment regarding decision by the Kingdom of Norway to downgrade diplomatic relations with Afghanistan.
Balkhi said in a post on X that The Islamic Emirate hopes such decisions should not be linked with internal affairs of other countries.
“Diplomatic engagement is most effective when it fosters mutual understanding and respect, even amidst differing viewpoints,” he stated.
“Access to consular services is a fundamental right of all nationals. We strongly urge all parties to prioritize this principle in the spirit of international cooperation,” he added.
Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Thursday that Maryam bint Ali bin Nasser Al Misnad, Minister of State for International Cooperation, has met with British Special Representative for Afghanistan Andrew McCoubrey for talks on Afghanistan.
According to the statement, the need to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the fields of health, education and humanitarian and development projects in Afghanistan were discussed.
Qatari and British officials stressed that the meeting was testimony to the strategic commitment of the two countries in support of the people of Afghanistan.
Currently, most countries cooperate only in the humanitarian sector. Some regional countries have also forged diplomatic ties with Afghanistan.
Western countries however continue to keep their diplomatic distance.
Qatar in turn is considered as a diplomatic, economic and humanitarian supporter of Afghanistan and has hosted the Doha meeting three times.
But according to experts, these meetings have not delivered tangible results so far because the sanctions have not been lifted nor have officials of the Islamic Emirate been removed from the blacklist.
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