Journalist Stefanie Glinski and nine other journalists were detained by the United States Armed Forces at Kabul airport. They were intercepted before they could continue into the city. Despite the journalists wanting to stay in Kabul and arranging transport between the airport and the city, the U.S. forces deported the journalists. The marines allegedly pushed journalists onto an airplane that was meant for vulnerable Afghans looking to flee.

The threatened yet resilient Afghan women journalists shared stories of despair, fear, and silence as The Coalition For Women In Journalism was flooded by applications for assistance. With a tireless team effort and sincere commitment to our women journalists on the ground, we have managed to relocate more than 30 at-risk individuals so far. The bustling Afghan media that once thrived even amidst the worst of threats is now finding it hard to survive under Taliban rule.

Shabnam Dawran, a broadcaster at state-run news channel Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA), was denied entry to work. In a video message Shabnam shared with the private news network, TOLO News, she alleged the Taliban barred her from entering the news station and told her to “go home”. Shabnam was dressed in a hijab and presented her work ID, but was not allowed into the Kabul-based network. Another female presenter, Khadija Amin, was instructed to go home and wait when she tried to return to work on August 18.

The withdrawal of the US troops from Afghanistan after the failure of their nation-building experiment in the region that began two decades ago, and the subsequent Taliban takeover of Kabul has resulted in widespread fear across the country. Several journalists, news media organizations, activists, non-government organizations, women and minority groups now fear a threat to their lives and seek asylum elsewhere.