In a statement the IFJ said: “It is clear that the Taliban are increasingly threatening all those they consider to be against them – and that includes independent media and foreign and Afghan journalists.

Major international news organisations are being accused by Afghan journalists of ignoring their pleas for help.

It is entirely unacceptable that journalists who have worked, often at great personal risk, to cover the conflict in Afghanistan should be left to fend for themselves. Media employers have a duty of care, not just to their full-time staff but to those freelance journalists who are often at the forefront of covering such conflicts”.