Despite the announcement of free media in Afghanistan by the Taliban, a family member of a reporter for the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle was killed while another relative was injured as the Taliban fighters conducted a door-to-door search for him.
German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) said the Taliban shot and killed a relative of one of their reporters in Afghanistan and severely injured a family member as well.
On Thursday, DW in a statement said that the Taliban fighters were allegedly conducting a door-to-door search to try and find a journalist, who now works in Germany. It said that other family members have managed to escape and are now on the run.
DW did not reveal the identity of the journalist and did not give further details on the killed and injured family members or say where and when exactly in Afghanistan the killing took place.
DW director general Peter Limbourg condemned the killing and said, “The killing of a close relative of one of our editors by the Taliban yesterday is inconceivably tragic, and testifies to the acute danger in which all our employees and their families in Afghanistan find themselves.”
“It is evident that the Taliban are already carrying out organized searches for journalists, both in Kabul and in the provinces. We are running out of time!” he added.
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The German Journalists’ Association (DJV) has called on the German government to take quick action, claiming that the reporters and stringers who worked for Western media are now being hunted down in Afghanistan.
DJV chairman Frank Überall said, “Germany must not stand idly by while our colleagues are persecuted and even murdered.”
Deutsche Welle has also alleged that the home of at least three of its journalists have been raided by the Taliban.
This comes after the Taliban held a press conference on Tuesday and said that it would allow free media and jobs for women, which were banned when it was last in power from 1996 to 2001.
Sahar Nasari, a presenter on state-owned Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA), wrote in a Facebook post on Thursday, “It has become clear there is a gap between action and words.”
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