Relative of journalist working for German broadcaster killed by Taliban

A German broadcaster reported on Thursday that the Taliban had killed a relative of one of their journalists and injured another family member.

The Taliban had reportedly been going door to door looking for a Deutsche Welle journalist, though the news outlet said that the person is currently in Germany. Amid the search, the insurgent group shot two relatives of the journalist, whom Deutsche Welle did not identify.

The German news outlet said that other relatives were able to escape quickly.

Deutsche Welle director Peter Limbourg issued a statement on Thursday, urging the German government to act and saying, “the killing of a close family member of one of our journalists by the Taliban is [incredibly] tragic and a proof for the imminent danger that all of our workers and their families are exposed to in Afghanistan,” according to The Associated Press.

“The Taliban are obviously conducting organized searches for journalists in Kabul and the provinces. Time is running out.”

Deutsche Welle also reported that the insurgent group had been looking for three other journalists of theirs and had searched their homes.

The reports underscore the anxieties journalists and others are facing while working within the country under newly reinstated Taliban rule. 

Journalists have been the targets of the Taliban previously, and some are concerned that they will become persecuted again despite promises by the insurgent group that they are seeking peace.

The Kabul bureau news manager of Radio Azadi told The New York Times in an interview that “Journalists are being left behind,” even though they are eligible to leave Afghanistan through a U.S. visa.

Writing on behalf of the Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal, the Post’s publisher, Fred Ryan, wrote to national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Monday, requesting that the U.S. safely remove their journalists, support staff and families to protect them from possible threats from the Taliban.

“Urgent request on behalf of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post is to have our 204 journalists, support staff and families transported by US Military from the civilian side of the Kabul airport to the military side of the airport where they can be safe as they await evacuation flights,” Ryan wrote. “They are currently in danger and need the US government to get them to safety. Please advise as to how best to proceed.” 

Those calls for a safe passage from Afghanistan were also echoed this week by a bipartisan group of lawmakers who wrote to President Biden, calling for the administration to make sure journalists and their Afghan counterparts were safely evacuated from the country.