Pakistan on Friday introduced a leisure in its visa coverage for journalists and media staff caught in Afghanistan, the place the safety scenario has been worsening within the wake of a sweeping Taliban offensive.
“The Government of Pakistan has decided to ease its visa policy for journalists and media workers stranded in Afghanistan in view of the evolving situation in Afghanistan,” an announcement issued by Inside Minister Sheikh Rasheed mentioned.
The assertion urged the overseas journalists and media staff “who want to leave Afghanistan via Pakistan” to use for a Pakistani visa.
“The interior ministry will issue visas to such international journalists and workers on a priority basis,” it added.
It additional mentioned the federal government had taken the choice to chill out the visa coverage in consideration of the security of the media personnel working in Afghanistan,
The announcement comes because the Taliban on Friday seized extra main cities as they raced to take full management of Afghanistan and inched nearer to Kabul, with the USA and Britain deploying 1000’s of troops to evacuate their residents from the capital.
The evacuation orders got here because the Taliban took management of Kandahar — the nation’s second-biggest metropolis — within the insurgency’s heartland, leaving solely Kabul and pockets of different territories in authorities arms.
The federal government has now successfully misplaced a lot of the nation following an eight-day blitz into city centres by the Taliban that has additionally shocked Kabul’s American backers.
The primary wave of the offensive was launched in early Could after the USA and its allies all however withdrew their forces from Afghanistan, with President Joe Biden decided to finish 20 years of struggle by September 11.
Final month, NAI, a rights group supporting impartial media in Afghanistan, reported that a minimum of 30 journalists and media staff had been killed, wounded or kidnapped by militant teams in Afghanistan this 12 months.
Earlier this week, suspected Taliban fighters killed an Afghan radio station supervisor in Kabul and kidnapped a journalist in southern Helmand province.
