World freedom of press day was marked in Afghanistan on May 3rd. In various events held in this regard, challenges ahead of those involved in conveying right information to the public especially the journalists were highlighted. President Hamid Karzai who appeared in front of the media a day after the signature of Afghan-US strategic pact said his government supported the freedom of expression in Afghanistan but a clarification on its definition was required.

He said that right for freedom of speech should not be misused for insulting public figures, beliefs and ethnicities. Comments from Karzai come at times when Afghanistan falls in the list of most dangerous countries for a journalist to be. Over the last decade, scores of media personnel have lost their lives in the hand of insurgents or unidentified killers. Nevertheless, not a single convict has been arrested.

Despite all the grave challenges including life threats facing reporters and journalists, development in Afghan media has been quite significant after the fall Taliban in late 2001. The number of TV and radio channels are over 50 and 100 respectively while, there hundreds of newspapers, magazines and other publications.

This is noteworthy achievement in the history of Afghanistan. During the Taliban, there were only a few newspapers and only one radio channel that were all ran the government itself. Meanwhile, there were no TVs as Taliban considered images stood in contradiction to the codes of Shariah.

Today too, a major portion of the hindrances lying ahead of freedom of speech is caused by Taliban insurgents. Reporting is an extremely risky task in almost all provinces of Afghanistan. At the same time, government organizations restrict media investigative works and lack the intention for providing accurate information. Freedom of expression has still a long way to go in Afghanistan.

To prove that government does not symbolically supports freedom of speech; it needs provide journalists and individual writers with more protection and access to information. At the same time, Afghan government and the international community need to make sure will be no compromise on the so-far media developments in Afghanistan in the so-called peace negotiation process with Taliban.