KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – The Taliban suicide bombing against a bus carrying employees of Afghanistan’s biggest media company last month has shocked local journalists, who fear they are now in the cross hairs of an increasingly lethal insurgency.
Journalism has always been a dangerous line of work in Afghanistan, and reporters have long had to contend with threats and occasional attacks by various armed groups. But after Tolo TV, the most popular Afghan broadcaster, falsely accused the Taliban of mass rape in a report carried late last year, the insurgents declared war.
“We saw in late 2015 a statement from the very highest levels of the Taliban staking out a very clear position that they are going to be deliberately targeting as ‘military objectives’ two of Afghanistan’s largest TV networks,” said Ahmad Shuja, a researcher with the New York-based Human Rights Watch.
Calling it “a watershed moment,” he said the Taliban now equate attacks on media with “any other military operations they’ve done and taken credit for – and the implications are chilling.”
In the Jan. 20 attack, a suicide bomber struck a bus belonging to the Moby Group, Tolo’s owner, killing seven people and wounding at least 25. The Taliban claimed responsibility, calling Tolo a tool of decadent Western influence and warning that other media outlets could be next.