Afghans call for end to wave of violence after three female media workers killed
Afghans mourned the latest victims of a wave of violence yesterday, as funerals were held for three female media workers who were shot dead in the eastern city of Jalalabad.
The three women were shot and killed in two separate attacks only 10 minutes apart after they left the Enikass TV station on Tuesday, in what a colleague described as an orchestrated hit.
An ISIS affiliate later claimed responsibility for the murders, saying its gunmen carried out the killings of what it called “journalists working for one of the media stations loyal to the apostate Afghan government”.
Journalists, activists and judges have been ambushed by gunmen or killed by explosives in a series of attacks.
The rise in violence has forced many into hiding or out of the country.
The killings have increased since peace talks began last year between the Afghan government and the Taliban, sparking fears that the insurgents are eliminating perceived opponents as negotiations stall.
Friends and family gathered at the women’s funerals in Jalalabad, where men took turns digging fresh graves with a shovel as others pleaded for an end to the deaths.
Rohan Sadat described his sister Sadia Sadat as “shy but active”.
He said that she was passionate about fighting for women’s rights and had planned to attend university and study law.
“We have buried her with all her hopes here,” Sadat said.
Another colleague at Enikass TV said that the station was reeling from the murders, and that the three victims were like family.
“Three innocent girls were shot dead in the daylight in the middle of the city,” she said.
“Nobody is safe any more.” In December, another female
employee of Enikass TV was murdered in Jalalabad in similar circumstances.
Social media users expressed their anger about the killings.
“It seems this war … is just for power through spreading fear and terrorism,” wrote Ghani Khan.
Rauf Afghan wrote: “These girls were working to help
their families. They were not [at] war with the Taliban.
“They were poor. They just worked to feed their family.”
Afghanistan has long been ranked as one of the most dangerous countries for journalists.
At least nine media workers have been killed since peace talks with the Taliban started
in September, according to the Afghan Journalists Safety Committee.
US officials blamed the Taliban for the wave of violence, while the Kabul government said the insurgents routinely hid behind ISIS claims of responsibility to cover their tracks.
The Taliban have denied the charges. The assassinations have been acutely felt by women, whose rights were crushed under the Taliban’s five-year rule.
Women were not allowed to work while the Taliban were in power.
Intelligence officials linked the renewed threat against female professionals to demands at the peace talks for their rights to be protected.
Many of the attacks are believed to have taken months of careful planning and are increasingly more sophisticated than the formerly favoured method of suicide bombings.
The killings happened as the US special envoy to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad returned to Kabul this week for meetings with Afghan leaders.
He is trying to revive a flagging peace process as violence increases across the country and a deadline for US troop withdrawal draws closer.
Donald Trump’s administration, eager to end the US’s longest war, gave Mr Khalilzad the task of negotiating with the Taliban. It culminated in a deal signed in Qatar on February 29 last year.
The accord states that the US will withdraw all troops from Afghanistan by May, with the Taliban promising not to allow territory to be used by terrorists. Speculation is rife over the US’s future in Afghanistan after the White House announced that it planned to review the withdrawal deal brokered by Mr Khalilzad and the Taliban.