Kabul: When Taliban fighters enter Kabul on the night of August 15, the executives on the largest independent TV network in Afghanistan have difficult decisions to be made: remain in the air or God.
Tolo maintains broadcasts, but such as TV stations and other country radio, now facing a difficult and uncertain future under the Taliban, the return has sent fear through the media.
The Islamic militant group kills and threatens journalists along the 20-year rebellion.
During the 1996-2001 regime, TV and most of the entertainment were prohibited, and there was no media to talk about.
Taliban takeover “puts us in a very, very difficult situation …
to continue our work or not,” Lotfullah Najafizada, Director of Tolo News, told AFP in a telephone interview.
“As a 24/7 news operation, we don’t even have an hour to rest and rethink.” Tolo lives in because it has the task of covering the news, he said, and also because it would be a “almost impossible” task to negotiate the losbitan with the Taliban having a tissue closed.
Taliban leadership has asked Afghan media to operate as usual.
An official even sat down for an interview with the host of a woman in Tolo News, wanting to convince people that the Taliban would be softer this time.
But many Afghans, including in the media, are not convinced.
“We are afraid, I will be honest with you, we are nervous,” Saad Mohseni, CEO of the Tolo’s Moby Group CEO, told the committee to protect journalists (CPJ) from Dubai.
“Everyone has a night without sleep, but what is experienced by viewers is not so different.” Taliban’s victory has expelled the independent media of Afghanistan into the crisis.
About 100 privately owned outlets have suspended operations, according to Watchdog reporter without Borders (RSF).
The Pajhwok news agency said many were closed due to the financial crisis caused by the Taliban takeover.
It has also forced many women from the industry.
RSF said only 76 female journalists were still working for outlets in the capital of Afghanistan – a major decline of 700 reported last year.
Outside of Kabul, he added, “Most female journalists forced to stop working”.
There are also intimidation reports, harassment and violence.
In a surprising incident, a group of Taliban fighters invaded the studio from private Afghan TV.
They stood behind the anchor table holding an assault rifle as a commander they read a statement that urged viewers not to be afraid of the group.
Such a threat has forced a number of Afghan journalists to escape – including Beheshta Arghand, who left the days after he conducted a Taliban interview that violated the Tolo news.
“Because of me, my family will be threatened by the Taliban,” he told the diplomat in Qatar on Wednesday.
Cataclysmic changes followed two decades of explosive growth for independent Afghan media.
After the Taliban was dropped in 2001, dozens of TV channels and more than 160 radio stations were established with Western assistance and private investment.
And Tolo T-TV and Tolo News Moby Group – The most watched channels in Afghanistan – realize the cultural revolution.
They bring programming to the unthinkable Afghans under the Taliban, from “American Idol” -Style singing competition to music videos, soap operas, and even the debate of the first Afghan presidential election.
Most dramatic, tolo and other Afghan networks provide space and opportunities for women, which are closed from public life, education and workplaces by the Taliban.
Now, there are worries about setbacks.
Tolo’s Najafizada told AFP the entertainment arm of the company had invited several content.
The Taliban has not issued any formal directives to the media, and the outlet mainly rely on self-sensor to avoid disappointing Islamists.
Some also plan contingencies.
Moby Group is considering options to operate from abroad if there is a hard action against tolo.
CEO Mohseni said orders such as journalist prohibitions or female sensors would be “red lines”.
Meanwhile, the company was hiring spree to try and fill the gap left by dozens of staff who left after falling kabul.
“The sad thing is the loss of this amount of capacity, to see the generation of people we have invested, who can do so much for the country, forced to leave,” Mohseni said to CPJ.
“Drain this brain will take us two decades again to build such capacity, unfortunately.”