BBC news bulletins have been taken off air in Afghanistan as part of the Taliban’s suspension of foreign TV programmes, the British public broadcaster said on Sunday.
U.S. and German public broadcasters Voice of America (VOA) and Deutsche Welle (DW) also said their programmes have been removed after local TV stations are barred from airing them.
According to the BBC, CGTN—the international arm of the Chinese communist regime’s state broadcaster CCTV—was also affected by the ban.
But satellite TV users, which the BBC said accounts for 20 percent of Afghans, can still access some of the foreign programmes.
The BBC said the development would affect “more than six million viewers” of its Persian, Pashto, and Uzbek language service programmes.
The British broadcaster said it had previously broadcast via Afghan partner stations in Pashto every day for half an hour; in Uzbek for 15 minutes a day, five days a week; and in Persian for 60 minutes a day, five days a week, “backed by two weekly current affairs programmes.”
VOA said on Sunday that it had 30-minute daily news bulletins in Pashto and Dari languages for five days a week via its Afghan partners ToloNews and Shamshad TV before the ban.
DW said on Monday that its political talk show “Aashti” in Dari and in Pashto on ToloNews and science programs broadcast on Ariana TV and Shamshad were affected.
Tarik Kafala, BBC World Service head of languages, called on the Taliban to reverse the ban.
“More than six million Afghans consume the BBC’s independent and impartial journalism on TV every week and it is crucial they are not denied access to it in the future,” Kafala said.
“We call on the Taliban to reverse their decision and allow our TV partners to return the BBC’s news programmes to their airwaves immediately.”
Yolanda Lόpez, acting VOA director, also called on the Islamic group to “reconsider this troubling and unfortunate decision.”
“The content restrictions that the Taliban are attempting to impose are antithetical to freedom of expression that the people of Afghanistan deserve,” she said.
DW’s Director-General Peter Limbourg said the development is “very worrying” and “is hindering positive developments in Afghanistan.”
“Free media is essential for [the positive developments in Afghanistan] and we will do everything we can to continue to provide the people of Afghanistan with independent information via the internet and social media,” Limbourg said.
“Since the Taliban took power, the people of Afghanistan have been waiting in vain for their living conditions to improve, or at least for some degree of normality,” he added.
The United Nations’ Assistance Mission in Afghanistan also condemned the suspension of international media broadcasts, calling it a “chilling development” and “another repressive step against the people of Afghanistan.”
Since the Taliban took over in August, many rights groups and journalists have raised concerns about prospects for freedom of speech in Afghanistan. The United Nations has criticised the arrest of several journalists.
The Taliban say they will not seek reprisals against those they disagree with and they will allow everyone their rights in accordance with Islamic law and Afghan culture. They have said any specific incidents of abuse will be investigated.
The Taliban’s Ministry of Culture and Information didn’t respond to The Epoch Times’ request for comment at the time of publishing.
