Reporters Without Borders: Taliban intelligence has created a special branch to suppress the media

Hamoon Thu Nov 2026 3 hours ago 22

In a report published on Wednesday, November 4, the organization wrote that this branch was established after the Taliban's return to power in August 2021 and is responsible for the arrest and interrogation of journalists, the censorship of media, and the management of online propaganda.


According to the report, agents of Branch 015 monitor media content in Kabul and other provinces and summon and threaten journalists who publish critical reports. Reporters Without Borders has stated that forces from this branch, in collaboration with the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice enforcers, raid media offices, arrest journalists, and seize media equipment. The organization has also reported the arrest of 77 journalists since 2021, with their detention periods ranging from one week to two years.


In this report, several journalists have recounted experiences of torture, threats, and forced confessions during detention by the Taliban's intelligence agency. One of them said that after being transferred to Branch 015, they were held in solitary confinement for two weeks and subjected to torture, including beatings and electric shocks. Another journalist described a mock execution by firing squad, being bound hand and foot, and being punished with cold water, adding that after a trial on charges of promoting against the Taliban, they were imprisoned and then fled Afghanistan.


Reporters Without Borders added that the Taliban have imposed extensive restrictions on media activities by issuing more than 20 nationwide guidelines and local decrees. According to journalists' accounts, media outlets are prohibited from broadcasting certain programs, featuring men and women together in joint programs, interviewing Taliban critics, and producing reports on women's rights, security incidents, and poverty.


The organization has also examined audio messages from Branch 015 agents in which journalists are instructed to invite only Taliban-approved analysts to their programs.


The organization says that the Taliban's monitoring has extended to cyberspace as well, with Branch 015 having a dedicated section for tracking social networks, advertisements, and disinformation campaigns. Additionally, a studio has been set up in this branch for recording forced confession videos of detainees. In response, Hamdullah Fitrat, deputy spokesman for the Taliban, told Reporters Without Borders that intelligence agencies operate within the framework of the law and that no one is arbitrarily arrested or mistreated.



Reporters Without Borders says that the Taliban's intelligence agency has established a widespread mechanism for monitoring, threatening, and suppressing media outlets and journalists in Afghanistan by creating a branch called "015."

Hamoon Khamoosh

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