Sweeping cuts to US foreign aid in 2025 severely weakened Afghan media organizations operating in exile, forcing some outlets to scale back reporting networks inside Afghanistan, lay off journalists and cancel programs focused on women and human rights, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch.
The report said many Afghan media outlets that relocated abroad after the Taliban’s return to power in 2021 had continued to rely on clandestine reporting operations inside Afghanistan and financial support from international donors, including the United States Agency for International Development and the US Agency for Global Media.
According to the report, the Trump administration’s abrupt suspension of foreign assistance in early 2025 disrupted those operations at a time when independent journalism inside Afghanistan was already under intense pressure from the Taliban.
Human Rights Watch said Taliban have cracked down on dissent, arbitrarily detained and tortured journalists, and shut down 12 media outlets in 2024 alone.
Women journalists and women’s access to media platforms were described as particularly affected by both Taliban restrictions and the funding cuts.
One Afghan media organization cited in the report said US support had previously covered about 35 percent of its annual $1 million budget.
The outlet received notices suspending its American funding in January 2025 and final termination notices in March, according to the report.
Although the organization later secured limited support from other governments, the loss of US assistance forced it to dismiss nearly half its staff.
By the end of 2025, the organization said only a handful of its journalists remained inside Afghanistan.
The report said the funding reductions also forced the group to cancel a journalism training program for 100 aspiring reporters in Afghanistan, half of whom were women.
Another US-funded project specifically focused on reporting human rights abuses in Afghanistan was also halted because of the cuts.
Human Rights Watch said internationally funded Afghan media outlets had played a crucial role in documenting abuses committed by both the former government and the Taliban.
The report added that Afghan-led media organizations had provided critical information for governments and United Nations bodies monitoring human rights conditions in Afghanistan.
It cited a 2025 report by Richard Bennett, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, which said the funding cuts had “weakened the ability of organizations to monitor, report, and respond to human rights violations at a time when oversight is urgently needed.”
Human Rights Watch warned that the rapid withdrawal of US funding had left Afghan journalists and rights groups increasingly vulnerable as restrictions on independent reporting continued to expand under Taliban rule.
