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Street in Kabul: precarious security situation
Photo: NOORULLAH SHIRZADA / AFP
He hardly ever leaves his office.
“I only go out when I really have to.
Nobody can guarantee our protection, ”says Murtaza Pazhwak.
He is 25, a journalist and works for a weekly newspaper in Kabul.
The editorial rooms are behind thick concrete walls and are guarded by heavily armed soldiers.
Outside, on the streets of Kabul, attacks can be expected at any time.
The last few weeks and months have made that more than clear in his eyes.
Like many other colleagues, Pazhwak does not feel safe on the streets of Kabul.
Afghanistan has been one of the deadliest countries for journalists for years.
In the past year alone, at least eight media workers were murdered.
»The media are still threatened from all sides
«
The government has lost control of the security situation in Kabul and appears increasingly helpless.
Vice President Amrullah Saleh recently called on taxi drivers in the capital to felt their passengers before they get into their cars.
This is how you can prevent bomb attacks.
At the beginning of March, three female journalists were murdered shortly after they had finished work in the eastern city of Jalalabad.
You worked for the TV station Enikass.
Malala Maiwand, a journalist for the station, was killed in December.
The Afghan IS cell claimed responsibility for the recent killings.
“The media continues to be threatened from all sides.
While the Taliban and groups like Islamic State are responsible for most of the threats and killings, it should also be pointed out that the government is responsible, ”said Patricia Gossman, deputy Asia director for Human Rights Watch.
She criticizes government officials and warlords who are intolerant of critical reporting and who barely investigate assassinations.
But the Afghan security apparatus also shares responsibility - above all the domestic secret service NDS, as well as Afghan CIA militias such as the "Khost Protection Force" (KPF) in the south-east of the country.
Both actors are known for their brutal crackdown on journalists.
And for enjoying impunity.
"I only go out when it really has to be
"
Intellectuals, political activists and religious scholars are also deliberately killed.
Sticky bombs have established themselves as a murder weapon.
They are cheap and easy to get hold of.
In most cases, the perpetrators remain unknown.
The Afghan government of President Ashraf Ghani blames the Taliban for the latest wave of attacks.
But local journalist Pazhwak and other observers are skeptical.
“It is no secret that the Taliban are capable of such things.
However, current developments have resulted in the fact that no one can be trusted - not even the government, «said Pazhwak.
The precarious security situation in Kabul is certainly also a consequence of the uncertain future prospects for the Afghan government.
Almost a year ago, the US signed a withdrawal deal with the Taliban in the Gulf emirate of Qatar.
The number of remaining US troops has since shrunk to around 2,500 soldiers.
The influence of the Taliban has increased massively in numerous regions of the country.
In some areas on the outskirts of Kabul, the Taliban have been in charge again for a long time.
"Those who rule here have created their own prison"
The presidential palace seems - apart from expressions of condolences after attacks - to be capable of nothing.
While the political elites barricade themselves in their armored fortresses or move in bulletproof columns, uncontrollable chaos reigns in Kabul.
“Those who rule here have made their own prison.
You live in a bubble, isolated from the rest of us, «says an NGO employee who wants to remain anonymous.
He remembers how, until a few years ago, you could travel across large parts of the country and walk carefree through the streets in Kabul.
“It's unthinkable today.
The Taliban are in charge in many regions and in Kabul you are murdered for a smartphone and a little change, ”he says.
But there are also journalists who still dare to go out into the country.
Fazelminallah Qazizai, 34, works primarily for international media, most recently he worked with "New Yorker" author Dexter Filkins on a play on Afghanistan.
In his dusty Toyota, he has toured almost all of Afghanistan in recent years.
Sometimes he was unable to continue because soldiers and Taliban fighters shot each other for hours in front of his nose.
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"New Yorker" employee Fazelminallah Qazizai: job with risk
Photo: Emran Feroz
He says: “Most Afghans have to cover long and dangerous distances every day.
As a journalist, you shouldn't entrench yourself permanently in Kabul, you should also report on what's going on outside the capital.
That's our job. "
His day-to-day work has hardly changed, which is mainly due to the fact that you cannot recognize his face.
"Known colleagues who are also regularly present on television experience a different type of threat," he says.
Quite a few of them have since left the country or are planning to flee.
"Freedom of the press is attacked every day in this country"
“This will go on for a while.
But nothing will change for most of us.
We'll stay here, ”predicts Qazizai.
Zaki Daryabi, editor of the well-known daily newspaper "Etilaat Roz" sees it similarly
.
The newspaper has made a name for itself in recent years with its reporting on corruption - and exposed well-known members of the Afghan government.
Thanks to leaks and investigative research, it became clear again and again how Western aid money ended up in the pockets of corrupt politicians.
The newspaper has accordingly many enemies.
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"Etilaat Roz" editor Zaki Daryabi: Has been recognized for his work
Photo: Emran Feroz
Also the office of
»
Etilaat Roz«
lies behind thick walls in an inconspicuous place in Kabul.
Whoever enters the front door is frisked and questioned in detail.
“We keep getting threats.
However, the addressees are unknown.
They could come from practically any side, ”says Daryabi.
He and his team recently won the annual Anti-Corruption Award from the NGO Transparency International.
“The price confirmed that we were doing something right.
He encourages us to continue our work despite the dangerous circumstances, ”says Daryabi.
“The freedom of the press is attacked every day in this country.
It is one of the most fundamental values in this country. "
He believes that conditions will worsen once the Taliban return to Kabul.
"Everyone knows that the Taliban don't think much of a free press," he says.
He still wants to stay in Kabul, but some of his employees have left Afghanistan.
Daryabi is not only concerned about himself, but about his family: »Even my three little sons now know that the situation in Kabul has worsened.
You are scared."
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