THE Taliban has arbitrarily detained journalists 256 times since their takeover of Afghanistan three years ago, the United Nations warned today, urging authorities to protect the media.

Journalists in the war-torn country were working under “challenging conditions” and more than 360 journalists have suffered rights breaches since 2021, the UN mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the UN Human Rights Office said.

Its report documented 130 cases of “torture and ill-treatment” and warned that the media sector has shrunk dramatically.