RASC News Agency: Though several days remain until August 14th the date the Taliban captured Kabul the group has already launched an aggressive propaganda campaign in the capital and across several provinces, coercing private media outlets to broadcast programs glorifying their takeover. Media sources in the provinces of Kunar, Nangarhar, Nuristan, and Laghman report that Taliban provincial officials have summoned independent journalists and station managers, subjecting them to threats and intimidation. The order is clear: before August 14th, they must prepare and air content devoted exclusively to the Taliban’s “victory” narrative celebrating their war against the former Afghanistani Republic and foreign forces, while erasing any dissenting perspective.
Local media executives confirm that Taliban directives go further than mere coverage. They have been explicitly instructed to invite “analysts” and “experts” who will harshly condemn the former republic while delivering unqualified praise of the Taliban. Independent media managers say they have been warned that failure to comply will result in punitive measures, including legal prosecution and the revocation of broadcasting licenses. Several outlets also reveal that while the Taliban promised to cover production costs for these propaganda segments, not a single payment has materialized forcing financially struggling stations to bear the expenses themselves. This tactic, they say, not only imposes ideological obedience but also deepens their economic vulnerability.
These developments are part of a much broader pattern. Four years into Taliban rule, the fragile gains of the past two decades especially freedom of speech and the independence of Afghanistani journalism have been gutted and, in practice, obliterated. The Taliban’s media policy is not merely restrictive; it is an absolute monopoly over narrative, with every public channel reduced to a mouthpiece of regime propaganda. Dissenting voices have been systematically silenced. Once a vital bridge between citizens and governance, independent media in Afghanistan now operate under a suffocating atmosphere of censorship, fear, and coercion. Journalists not only face professional suffocation but also live under constant threat to their safety and lives. Repeated intimidation, compulsory censorship, and mounting financial pressures have transformed the Afghanistani media landscape into a closed, state-controlled echo chamber.
This climate has crippled freedom of expression, eroded public trust in the press, and diminished both the quality and diversity of information available to the people. What once was a vibrant, if fragile, media ecosystem has been reduced to a hollow apparatus for regime self-congratulation a stark reminder of the Taliban’s relentless campaign to rewrite reality in their own image.
