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Suspected Taliban fighters killed an Afghan radio station manager in Kabul and kidnapped a journalist in southern Helmand province, local government officials said on Monday, reporting the latest in a long line of attacks targeting media workers.

Gunmen shot Toofan Omar, the station manager of Paktia Ghag radio and an officer for NAI, a rights group supporting independent media in Afghanistan, in a targeted killing in the capital on Sunday.

"Omari was killed by unidentified gunmen...he was a liberal man...we are being targeted for working independently," said Mujeeb Khelwatgar, the head of NAI. Officials in Kabul suspected Taliban fighters had carried out the attack.

Last month the NAI report at least 30 journalists and media workers have been killed, wounded or abducted by militant groups in Afghanistan this year.

In southern Helmand province, officials said Taliban fighters had seized a local journalist, Nematullah Hemat, from his home in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital, on Sunday.

"There is just absolutely no clue where the Taliban have taken Hemat...we are really in a state of panic, said Razwan Miakhel, head of private TV channel, Gharghasht TV where Hemat was employed.

A Taliban spokesperson told Reuters that he had no information on either the killing in Kabul or the abducted journalist in Helmand.

A coalition of Afghan news organisations have written to US President Joe Biden and leaders in the House of Representatives, urging them to grant special immigration visas to Afghan journalists and support staff.

This comes after the Biden administration launched airstrikes on Taliban fighters in northern Afghanistan on Saturday, as the Islamists have continued their offensive, capturing new areas amid the rapid withdrawal of US forces.

The Taliban has issued a message to the United States: "We are warning against the US interference in Afghanistan", the spokesperson for the Taliban Political Office said, stressing that no intra-Afghan ceasefire had been reached. He also accused the Afghan government of escalating the tensions in the country by launching operations in several provinces.

On Saturday, US B-52 Stratofortress bombers struck Taliban forces in Sheberghan, Jawzjan Province, causing casualties and inflicting significant damage on the terrorists, Afghan Defence Ministry spokesman Fawad Aman confirmed on Twitter.

On Saturday, the movement announced they'd captured the southwestern province of Nimruz — including its capital Zaranj, making it the first provincial centre the Islamists have seized since 2016, and the northern province of Jawzjan.

Former US Ambassador to Afghanistan Ryan Crocker suggested on Sunday that "a prolonged civil war is a more likely outcome".

Meanwhile, Afghan aides, like interpreters and security forces, who helped US troops during the long war, along with their families, have became "target number one" for the Taliban fighters, who consider them traitors to Islam and the country. Washington has vowed to pull out thousands of Afghan citizens who have collaborated with American forces, but so far, its has evacuated less than 1 percent of them.

While Democrats advocate for mask and vaccine mandates, New York Times White House correspondent Annie Karni seemingly justified the mass gathering of Obama's birthday party by relaying the sentiment of some Martha's Vineyard residents.

"They're following all the safety precautions. People are going to sporting events that are bigger than this," Karni said, repeating some island residents. "This is a sophisticated, vaccinated crowd."

Speaking about criticism of the party, Karni added, "This is just about optics. It's not about safety."

Earlier in the interview, Karni explained the COVID-related precautions that Obama's staff took — and requiring guests to be vaccinated was not one of them.

"Well, first of all, to be clear, this party is outdoors. All the guests had to submit negative COVID tests to a COVID coordinator and were encouraged to be vaccinated," Karni said.

"They were not required to be vaccinated, but most of this crowd is assumed to be vaccinate," she added. "So they are following all CDC precautions."

What was the reaction?

The sentiment that Karni relayed was quickly called out for its elitist stench that suggests "sophisticated" people can live by different rules than non-sophisticated people.

• "It's important to note that the latest research in virology proves that sophisticated progressive people are protected against COVID via a BS-13 enzyme. Not to be confused with Noble members of MS-13," reporter Gad Saad mocked.
• "Oh that explains it. As long as you are rich and sophisticated, you are safe from Covid. All the rest of us lower level citizens must practice social distancing," one person reacted.
• "A NYT reporter on CNN justifying Obama's huge maskless birthday bash because he only invited 'a sophisticated, vaccinated crowd' is about as emblematic of liberal discourse as it gets. What happened to all the concerns about vaccinated people passing Delta to the unvaccinated?" Glenn Greenwald said. "Yes, it's a pandemic and a crisis, but let the sophisticated people have their fun!"
• "A case study in media elitism, in one telling segment, with the very worst of journalism in the 'objective' Jim Acosta running the performance art," media reporter Joe Concha reacted.
• "With distinct notes of vanilla, elderberry, and aged hickory," Washington Examiner editor Seth Mandel mocked.
• "Everyone knows COVID doesn't affect people who sip wine with their pinkies out," another person mocked.
• "Notice how she pivoted to 'they're following the rules' to 'there are people doing much worse at sports events anyway'. So which is it? Are they all rule breakers, or none are?" one person pointed out.
• "That's it right there, the quiet part out loud: 'We are better than some other people, we are sophisticated, we are educated, we can break the rules,'" another person said.

Martha's Vineyard has been designated as an area with "high" transmission of COVID-19 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which theoretically means residents should wear face masks indoors and avoid large gatherings.

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