Making Bricks To Feed Family: After Taliban Took Power, Former Journalist Works As Labourer

Zabiullah Wafa, who used to work as a reporter for media outlets in Afghanistan’s western Ferz Koh city, is now a labourer who makes bricks to feed his 10-member family. He is one of the thousands of Afghans who have lost their jobs or sources of income since the Taliban seized power and the democratically elected government collapsed.

He had worked as a journalist for the previous ten years, but was fired off and left jobless due to the local media’s financial difficulties. “Local media outlets laid me off after the Taliban took power, and I’ve been jobless for the past two months. To provide for my family, I opted to assist my father in the production of construction bricks ” he expressed his thoughts. He claimed that hundreds of Afghan journalists were in similar situations, and he appealed to the international community to assist and support them.

Over 150 media outlets in Afghanistan have closed their doors in the last month as they struggled to carry out their daily activities in the aftermath of the Taliban’s takeover. In addition to the economic difficulties, the Taliban are limiting journalists’ access to information, which has affected the work of scribe organisations.