ACCEPTANCE – The Taliban arrested two foreign journalists on a mission for the UN in Afghanistan. The news was reported on Twitter by UNHCR, the UN refugee agency. The Taliban provocation comes on the day that US President Joe Biden signed an executive order unlocking assets worth seven billion frozen in the Central Bank of Afghanistan to distribute for humanitarian assistance to the country for the victims of the 9/11 attacks. .
“Two UNHCR-appointed journalists and Afghan nationals who work with them are detained in Kabul,” the refugee agency tweeted. “We are doing our best to resolve the situation, in coordination with the others.” One of the inmates is Andrew Northa former journalist of the Bbc who has worked extensively in Afghanistan. His wife, Natalia Antelava, appealed on Twitter for his release: “Andrew was in Kabul working for UNHCR. He was trying to help the people of Afghanistan,” Antelava said. “We are extremely concerned about his safety and are calling on anyone with influence to be released.”
“The detention by the Taliban of two reporters in charge of the UN refugee agency is a sad symptom of the general decline in press freedom and increasing attacks on journalists under the Taliban government,” said Steven Butler from Washington. , coordinator of the Asian program of the Committee for the protection of journalists.
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