Source: www.persecution.org
Date: January 10, 2022
Afghanistan (International Christian Concern) – During the last two decades of conflict in Afghanistan, most Afghan media outlets enjoyed relative freedom to broadcast news throughout the country with a variety of content. Now, only a few months after the withdrawal of U.S. and NATO forces, journalists have been restricted in their reporting and many news channels have been shut down. Broadcasts in Afghanistan have been limited to religious programming and most, if not all, female journalists have been forced to go underground. This turn of events is unsurprising as the Taliban’s strict approach to regulating all life according to their interpretation of Shariah and Islam is the commanding principle of their rule.
Nearly all forms of freedoms have been limited or completely eradicated by the Taliban. Religious minorities, such as Christians continue to live in extreme danger for their lives. As converts from Islam, Christians are considered a community of criminals as they have violated the law and left Islam to become Christian. By-and-large all Christians are converts from Islam making them apostate in the eyes of the Taliban.
Since the U.S. withdrawal began in the summer of 2021, Christians began to receive threatening phone calls and messages from the Taliban claiming to know who they are and inform them that they would be coming for them soon.
The international community must keep up the pressure on the Taliban in pressing for human rights in Afghanistan. The press and religious minority communities must be safeguarded at all costs.
HOW TO PRAY: Pray for greater press freedom in Afghanistan. Pray for protection for female journalists in Afghanistan. Pray for the truth about the situation on the ground to come to light.