Taliban warns TV station staff not to promote immorality after attack

At least 25 other people were wounded in the bombing near the Russian embassy in downtown Kabul, in the first major attack on an Afghan media organisation since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001. The Taliban said they targeted Tolo TV, Afghanistan’s largest private television channel, because it was producing propaganda for the US military and its allies.Tolo was attacked for “promoting obscenity, irreligiousness, foreign culture and nudity”, the Taliban said in a statement.

It was the latest in a series of suicide attacks in the Afghan capital that coincide with renewed efforts to revive a peace process with Taliban insurgents that broke down in July.

The new arrangement “enables the United States to more actively target ISIL in Afghanistan”, the official said, using an acronym for the group that controls parts of Iraq and Syria and has established outposts from North Africa to Central Asia.

If by “impartial media outlets” the Taliban mean outlets which are not critical of attacks on civilians-such as those riding the bus home from work-there aren’t many around.

No group has claimed responsibility yet for the attack.

The blast occurred on the same road as Afghanistan’s parliament building and the Russian Embassy. Statements said the station’s vehicles had been under surveillance for some time.

At least 20 people were wounded in the bombing, including women and children, Ministry of Public Health spokesman Ismail Kawusi said.

A statement from the embassy said killing those who worked to enlighten, educate and entertain would not stop the Afghans from exercising their universal human right to freedom of expression. The Taliban regime had one radio station, Sharia Radio, and banned television.

The Taliban in October declared TOLO and 1TV, both privately run news stations as legitimate “military targets”. Journalism has been a risky profession in Afghanistan for years.

“The targeting of journalists reflects a depraved strategy to make media freedom a casualty of the ongoing conflict”, commented Patricia Gossman, senior Afghanistan researcher at HRW. The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, as well as other organizations across the country, condemned the attack and said journalists and civilians should never be the target of violence.