In the name of Allah
Any attack on the media will be considered as a war crime
Taliban newly in a statement has announced that Tolo and 1TV media stations as their enemy and threaten them that their employee and offices will be in their military attack/operation list.
Media, media activist, advocacy organizations and Afghanistan National Journalists Union has not considered these threats only on these two media but has considered this threats to the whole media family of Afghanistan and the freedom of expression which is the biggest gain in the last half decade.
We believe that the people of Afghanistan is expecting the afghan media to not give up for such threats and continue to their responsibility on the public awareness as per their commitments and their professional standards as promised. Media stations are not related to any war and they are civil institutes, if the Taliban or other groups have any complain on the media activities, there are other conventional ways to express and protest, but any attack on them is considered as war crime.
We believe if the Taliban or other group continue with these threats or harm to the media and journalists, certainly the first step will be to boycott their news and will decide to take other steps as well.
Afghanistan media community emphasizes to their commitments to democratic values and professional standards and emphasize their obligation to comply with the professional standards of neutrality and balance in publish of information.
We request the government of Afghanistan, national and international institutes for their wide support of media and journalists of Afghanistan and their employees and put a priority for maintaining their security and safety.
