Taliban prevents Afghan media federation from holding press conference

The Taliban on Wednesday prevented the Afghan media federation from holding a press conference over concerns about the status of media in Afghanistan. The Afghanistan Federation of Journalists and Media conference was supposed to be held on Wednesday in Kabul and the press briefing was to be given by 11 representatives of various media organizations, reported Tolo News.

"It was planned that today the Afghanistan Federation of Journalists and Media would hold a conference. National and international media outlets were going to cover it, however, unfortunately, due to the verbal order of the officials of the Islamic Emirate, the conference was cancelled," said Ali Asghar Akbarzada, Head of the Afghanistan National Journalists' Union. Members of the federation said that the Islamic Emirate instructed them not to hold the conference until they receive permission, reported Tolo News.

"We call on the Islamic Emirate to finalize their decision in the future. They should make the decision as soon as possible and give us a permit so we can hold our conference based on it," Akbarzada said. Based on statistics, over 43 per cent of media activities have been halted and over 60 per cent of media employees have become jobless since the Islamic Emirate swept into power in Afghanistan in mid-August. (ANI)

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