Female journalists in Afghanistan are fearing for their lives: 'Death threatens us at every moment'

Now that Afghanistan has effectively fallen into the hands of the Taliban, female Afghan journalists are bracing themselves for retribution from the militant group, reports The Guardian.

"In the last 24 hours, our lives have changed and we have been confined to our homes, and death threatens us at every moment," said one anonymous female reporter. "We see silence filled with fear of the Taliban around us."

Another source, who said she was worried about what might happen to her as both a woman and a journalist, said "you cannot imagine the picture of the people and the eyes, and the faces and expressions" from Afghans as the Taliban descended upon Kabul. "In provinces they took some girls for themselves and used them as slaves," she added fearfully, while citing reports of rape, forced marriages, and physical abuse.

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Another female reporter worried that because she works for one of Afghanistan's largest media networks, she and her family will be shown "no mercy," reports The Guardian. In a frantic attempt to protect themselves, she and other journalists tried to send their documentation and work to embassies, before "destroying any trace of their existence, physically and online," The Guardian writes.

"For many years, I worked as a journalist ... to raise the voice of Afghans, especially Afghan women," said the first source, "but now our identity is being destroyed and nothing has been done by us to deserve this." Read more at The Guardian.

Brigid Kennedy worked at The Week from 2021 to 2023 as a staff writer, junior editor and then story editor, with an interest in U.S. politics, the economy and the music industry.