Afghan Media Group Campaigns Against Deportations from Iran and Pakistan

The campaign, which began on August 10, 2025, uses social media to raise awareness with hashtags like “No to the deportation of journalists from Pakistan and Iran”. AMSO is concerned for the safety of journalists, civil society activists, human rights defenders, and former security personnel in these countries, fearing that new deportation policies could put their lives at risk. The campaign emphasizes that journalism is not a crime and urges an acceleration of relocation efforts to safer countries.

The campaign comes as the media landscape inside Afghanistan continues to shrink under Taliban rule. A quarterly report from the UN mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) indicates that the Taliban’s policies, combined with economic collapse and a lack of donor funding, have severely restricted private media outlets. This has led to many outlets cutting staff by up to half, with some facing potential closure.

Access to information for the Afghan public is also being increasingly limited, as the Taliban’s morality law and new guidelines for political programming impose strict controls. A new committee has been established to monitor all political content, and political analysts are now required to obtain identification cards from the Ministry of Information and Culture to appear on television.

This shrinking space for media freedom stands in stark contrast to the difficult lives of Afghan girls under Taliban rule. In Daikundi province, girls have been barred from school and university, with many turning to professions like tailoring for survival. These former students are working to earn an income while still holding on to the hope of returning to their studies.