The Government of Pakistan has decided to relax its visa policy for journalists and media workers stranded in Afghanistan, as the security situation further worsens in the war-torn country.
In a statement issued Friday, Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said the decision was taken in consideration of the safety of international journalists and media personnel working in Afghanistan.
“The Government of Pakistan has decided to ease its visa policy for journalists and media workers stranded in Afghanistan in view of the evolving situation in Afghanistan,” a statement issued by Interior Minister Sheikh Rasheed said.
The announcement comes as the Taliban on Friday seized more major cities as they raced to take full control of Afghanistan and inched closer to Kabul, with the United States and Britain deploying thousands of troops to evacuate their citizens from the capital.
The statement urged the foreign journalists and media workers “who want to leave Afghanistan via Pakistan” to apply for a Pakistani visa.
“The interior ministry will issue visas to such international journalists and workers on a priority basis,” it added.
30 journalists and media workers were reportedly killed, wounded or abducted by militant groups in Afghanistan this year, NAI, an independent media group in Afghanistan, reported last month.
In recent incidents, suspected Taliban fighters killed an Afghan radio station manager in Kabul earlier this week, while kidnapped a journalist in southern Helmand province.
In July, a Reuters journalist Danish Siddiqui was killed while covering a clash between Afghan security forces and Taliban fighters near a border crossing with Pakistan.
Meanwhile, The Pentagon is sending 3,000 Marines and soldiers to Afghanistan and another 4,000 troops to the region to evacuate most of the American Embassy and U.S. citizens in Kabul, as the Biden administration braces for a possible collapse of the Afghan government within a month.
The United States and its allies started withdrawing their forces from Afghanistan in May, with President Joe Biden determined to end two decades of war before September 11.