LONDON: The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) condemned the Taliban on Tuesday for raiding the houses of two journalists in Afghanistan and urged them to allow the media to operate freely.

“The Taliban leadership must intervene to prevent the harassment of journalists and unwarranted searches of their homes by its fighters,” said Steven Butler, coordinator of CPJ’s Asia program.

“The Taliban need to prove that their stated support for press freedom in Afghanistan truly means something and ensure that its members stop raiding journalists’ homes and return all confiscated materials immediately,” he added.

The raids took place on two separate occasions.

The first was on Aug. 17, when Taliban fighters in Ghazni city broke into the house of Khadija Ashrafi, general manager of the Afghan government-run Bakhtar News Agency.

Ashrafi reportedly went into hiding just before the Taliban broke into her house, and it is yet unclear whether the Taliban confiscated anything from her home.

The second raid took place on Aug. 20, when Taliban militants raided the home of Zalmay Latifi, director of the privately-owned broadcaster Enikass Radio and TV in Kabul.

While Latifi also went into hiding prior to the Taliban raid, he said that the group seized three cars and licensed weapons from the premises and two desktop computers.

Since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan last week, the group has raided and searched the homes of at least four other journalists and news agency employees.