WASHINGTON: The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists reported on Tuesday that Afghan authorities had banned New York Times correspondent Matthew Rosenberg from leaving the country.

Mr Rosenberg’s recent report, published on Monday, alleged that some Afghan officials were threatening to seize power in the country if the impasse in recent presidential elections was not resolved.

Mr Rosenberg told CPJ via Twitter that the Afghan attorney general’s spokesman informed him of the travel ban after first communicating the news to a local television channel, Tolo.

“We call on Afghan authorities to lift all travel restrictions on Matthew Rosenberg immediately,” said CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney.

“Denying journalists freedom of movement is nothing more than a form of intimidation at a time when Afghanistan’s democracy is most in need of independent political reporting.”

Published in Dawn, August 20th, 2014