Nemat Rawan

Former television journalist Nemat Rawan was killed by gunmen in a targeted assassination in Kandahar city as he was driving a vehicle on the road when two motorcycle riders pulled out their pistols and opened fired on him. He died on the spot and the gunmen escaped the scene, taking his personal smartphone.

Nemat Rawan hosted a talk show on the country’s leading broadcaster, TOLO News, before joining the ministry of finance as a communications specialist in April 2021. While no one is yet to take responsibility for the attack, the Taliban have been blamed for the recent wave of attacks on journalists in Afghanistan. The day before Rawan’s death, a Taliban spokesman said media workers who undertake “bias reporting” would be “held responsible”.

On the other hand, the chief of Afghan intelligence agency Ahmad Zia Saraj said in a closed-door parliament hearing that some journalists and analysts work in favor of the Taliban and that his agency would not tolerate those people.