{"id":37778,"date":"2026-09-03T12:28:25","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T08:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rukhshana.com\/en\/?p=37778"},"modified":"2026-09-03T13:02:30","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T09:32:30","slug":"opinion-dozens-of-children-were-hurt-in-a-kabul-school-blast-why-do-we-know-so-little","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rukhshana.com\/en\/opinion-dozens-of-children-were-hurt-in-a-kabul-school-blast-why-do-we-know-so-little\/","title":{"rendered":"OPINION:\u00a0Dozens of children were hurt in a\u00a0Kabul\u00a0school\u00a0blast\u00a0\u2013 why do we know so little?\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>By Jawid Maleki\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Two weeks ago,&nbsp;a&nbsp;large&nbsp;explosion tore through a school in Kabul, injuring more than 50 children, but the tragedy has attracted remarkably&nbsp;little&nbsp;attention.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Normally,&nbsp;something&nbsp;as horrifying as this would&nbsp;be&nbsp;extensively&nbsp;reported&nbsp;by the media,&nbsp;backed by&nbsp;interviews with&nbsp;witnesses, school&nbsp;staff&nbsp;and&nbsp;victims\u2019&nbsp;families.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But we&nbsp;still&nbsp;have&nbsp;very&nbsp;few details&nbsp;about what happened&nbsp;at Shama-e Hedayat School&nbsp;on&nbsp;the afternoon of&nbsp;August&nbsp;17. We do&nbsp;not&nbsp;even know the extent of the children\u2019s injuries.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The lack of media coverage is a stark reflection of just how hard it has become to report in Afghanistan.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since seizing power five years ago, the&nbsp;Taliban have imposed&nbsp;draconian&nbsp;restrictions on the media,&nbsp;aimed at&nbsp;crushing&nbsp;all&nbsp;criticism&nbsp;and controlling the narrative, particularly on security matters.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The media freedom organisation&nbsp;Reporters Without Borders&nbsp;says the Taliban have&nbsp;turned Afghanistan into a&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/rsf.org\/en\/five-years-taliban-rule-afghanistan-growing-arsenal-repressive-measures-against-journalism\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cprison for information\u201d<\/a>.&nbsp;Its&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/rsf.org\/en\/index\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2026&nbsp;World Press Freedom Index<\/a>&nbsp;ranks Afghanistan&nbsp;175&nbsp;out of&nbsp;180 countries.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"512\" src=\"https:\/\/rukhshana.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/09\/RM-Sk-1-1024x512.webp\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-37782\" srcset=\"https:\/\/rukhshana.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/09\/RM-Sk-1-1024x512.webp 1024w, https:\/\/rukhshana.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/09\/RM-Sk-1-300x150.webp 300w, https:\/\/rukhshana.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/09\/RM-Sk-1-768x384.webp 768w, https:\/\/rukhshana.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/09\/RM-Sk-1-1536x768.webp 1536w, https:\/\/rukhshana.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/09\/RM-Sk-1-2048x1024.webp 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Shama-e Hedayat School students.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">After&nbsp;the&nbsp;explosion&nbsp;at Shama-e Hedayat School, our reporters&nbsp;conducted&nbsp;dozens of&nbsp;interviews.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Eyewitnesses&nbsp;told&nbsp;them&nbsp;the blast&nbsp;was caused by a hand grenade&nbsp;hurled&nbsp;into the school.&nbsp;Several&nbsp;reported seeing&nbsp;two men on a motorbike throw the grenade.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Others&nbsp;described children lying&nbsp;in the&nbsp;school&nbsp;courtyard screaming in pain,&nbsp;and girls with blood-stained white headscarves.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But the&nbsp;Taliban&nbsp;said&nbsp;there was no attack.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Media outlets close to the Taliban,&nbsp;or&nbsp;operating&nbsp;under Taliban restrictions,&nbsp;said the blast was an accident caused by an old item of unexploded ordnance that a student&nbsp;had&nbsp;brought into school.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">However,&nbsp;Rukhshana Media reporters&nbsp;said the&nbsp;Taliban&nbsp;blocked off the&nbsp;area around the&nbsp;school and&nbsp;prevented anyone&nbsp;accessing information&nbsp;that would help verify&nbsp;what happened.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They&nbsp;said&nbsp;the school head, several&nbsp;teachers and a doctor who had provided first aid were&nbsp;detained, and&nbsp;that school staff and&nbsp;victims\u2019&nbsp;families&nbsp;appeared&nbsp;under pressure to&nbsp;keep&nbsp;quiet.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">MEDIA TYRANNY&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Taliban\u2019s&nbsp;hostility towards&nbsp;a free media&nbsp;is both tactical and ideological. Tactically, they hope to cover up past crimes and&nbsp;current&nbsp;failures. They also&nbsp;know they would never win public acceptance in an environment where information was allowed to circulate freely.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ideologically, the Taliban do not believe in freedom of expression. During their first period in power in the late 1990s, they&nbsp;established&nbsp;absolute media tyranny. Over the past five years, they have steadily moved in the same direction.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Afghanistan used to boast a vibrant media scene, but&nbsp;the&nbsp;Taliban&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;who tolerate the media only&nbsp;in so far as&nbsp;it serves their propaganda aims&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;have now gained almost complete control over the flow of information.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They have achieved this through the&nbsp;closure of media outlets,&nbsp;censorship,&nbsp;intimidation,&nbsp;the&nbsp;arrest and torture of journalists, heavy restrictions on female journalists&nbsp;and widespread bans on video reporting.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The&nbsp;one&nbsp;remaining&nbsp;hope&nbsp;for independent reporting from inside Afghanistan lies with exiled media outlets&nbsp;which&nbsp;gather&nbsp;information through&nbsp;interviews with ordinary people, mostly conducted by journalists working in secret on the ground.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Yet the Taliban are&nbsp;now&nbsp;trying to choke off this&nbsp;key&nbsp;channel.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some witnesses we spoke to&nbsp;immediately&nbsp;after the school blast later changed their accounts&nbsp;or&nbsp;contacted us to ask us not to publish their comments.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">They&nbsp;said they were now&nbsp;afraid of&nbsp;repercussions, even though we had guaranteed them anonymity.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One&nbsp;Rukhshana Media&nbsp;journalist&nbsp;said several sources had&nbsp;initially&nbsp;reported seeing&nbsp;two&nbsp;motorcyclists throw an explosive device&nbsp;into the school.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">But when&nbsp;the journalist&nbsp;returned to the area five days later, the atmosphere had completely changed.&nbsp;People were&nbsp;very cautious.&nbsp;Most repeated the account published by Taliban-controlled media, including some who had previously reported seeing the motorcyclists.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFear and uncertainty could be seen in the faces and eyes of some of them,&#8221; the journalist said.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">One&nbsp;well informed&nbsp;source&nbsp;told our reporter to stop working on the story because having journalists approach people for information&nbsp;was putting school&nbsp;staff&nbsp;and pupils\u2019 families&nbsp;at risk.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Another&nbsp;journalist&nbsp;who visited&nbsp;the&nbsp;blast&nbsp;scene on August 22&nbsp;could not find anyone&nbsp;who would&nbsp;talk.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">SELF-CENSORSHIP&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">We have never seen a tragedy as serious as this remain shrouded in such silence.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Explosions at schools are sadly not new in Afghanistan. But in&nbsp;the past,&nbsp;there were always&nbsp;many&nbsp;witnesses willing to&nbsp;share&nbsp;information.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Our journalists have&nbsp;also&nbsp;noticed&nbsp;increasing&nbsp;self-censorship&nbsp;among ordinary people&nbsp;while covering other stories&nbsp;on issues&nbsp;such as&nbsp;the harassment and detention of women for alleged violations of Taliban rules.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Victims&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;and their families&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;say they have been pressured not to&nbsp;talk to the media&nbsp;about&nbsp;what happened to them.&nbsp;In some cases,&nbsp;women&nbsp;freed from&nbsp;detention say the&nbsp;Taliban&nbsp;have&nbsp;forbidden&nbsp;them&nbsp;from making public statements as a condition of their release.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Taliban&nbsp;are not only making it harder for&nbsp;independent journalists to find&nbsp;sources for their&nbsp;reporting, but&nbsp;are also trying&nbsp;to sever&nbsp;their&nbsp;links&nbsp;with&nbsp;media&nbsp;outside the country.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Last month,&nbsp;the Afghanistan Media Support Organization, a non-profit based in Germany,&nbsp;said the&nbsp;Taliban had&nbsp;reportedly&nbsp;asked&nbsp;members of the media to&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/ajso.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Assessment-of-the-State-of-Afghanistan-Final.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">identify&nbsp;journalists who cooperate with outlets in exile<\/a>.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Taliban have always had their hands around the media\u2019s throat.&nbsp;But their grip is&nbsp;now&nbsp;tightening&nbsp;once again&nbsp;as they try to&nbsp;strangle&nbsp;independent reporting.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Two weeks ago,\u00a0a\u00a0large\u00a0explosion tore through a school in Kabul, injuring more than 50 children, but the tragedy has attracted remarkably\u00a0little\u00a0attention.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37780,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard"},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[911,966,9581],"tags":[1526,11568,11567,3767,11569],"class_list":["post-37778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-analysis-en","category-featured-en","category-our-work-en","tag-children","tag-interviews","tag-kabul-school-blast","tag-opinion","tag-reporters-without-borders"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - 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