The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on the Taliban to rescind its recent ban on the broadcast of political and economic programmes on Afghanistan’s domestic media.
Beh Lih Yi, CPJ’s Asia Program Coordinator, stated that by prohibiting such broadcasts, the Taliban is attempting to completely eliminate independent media in Afghanistan. “The Taliban must allow Afghan media to operate independently,” she said. “This latest move to censor discussion, reporting, and debate on political and economic issues is yet another repressive measure that indicates the extreme steps the Taliban are taking to dismantle Afghanistan’s independent media.”
On 14 February, the Taliban’s Ministry of Information and Culture ordered domestic media outlets to cease producing and airing political and economic programmes. The directive also mandated that media organisations should only interview the group’s approved spokespersons on these matters.
Previously, the Taliban had banned the live broadcast of political programmes and required media outlets to obtain approval from their officials before publishing content. In addition, the group provided a list of approved experts, instructing the media to invite only those individuals to appear on political programmes.
Earlier reports from the Afghanistan Journalists Centre revealed that in the three and a half years of Taliban rule, the group had issued 23 directives curbing media activities, thereby severely restricting journalists and media organisations.
The ongoing violation of journalists’ rights under Taliban rule has sparked widespread criticism from international media organisations and rights groups, which have called for the repeal of these repressive orders and for the protection of independent media in Afghanistan. Despite such criticism, the Taliban has continued to intensify its restrictions on media activities.
