The Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has barred media outlets in Herat from broadcasting images of people or other living beings, local sources said Tuesday.
Officials from television stations and YouTube channels were summoned by the ministry and ordered to comply with the restriction, participants in the meeting told reporters.
Some media representatives argued that the ban should not apply to private outlets in Herat while Taliban-run state television in Kabul continues to air such content. YouTubers present at the meeting said their broadcasts primarily target audiences outside Afghanistan.
Despite the objections, Taliban officials insisted the ban on live broadcasting would be enforced. One Herat media source said local outlets would only accept the order if it were implemented uniformly across the country.
The Taliban have previously imposed similar restrictions in Kabul and other provinces. Herat is home to Afghanistan’s second-largest concentration of visual media outlets after the capital Kabul.
