CPJ Calls for BBC Radio to Resume Broadcasting in Afghanistan
The Committee to Protect Journalists has called on the Taliban administration to lift its suspension of BBC radio programmes in Afghanistan and allow the media outlet to continue operating without restrictions. The group said the new restrictions would further harm people in Afghanistan’s access to independent and impartial information.
The Taliban administration halted BBC radio broadcasts on FM frequencies across Afghanistan on Tuesday. BBC World Service has also confirmed the decision. The Taliban accused the British broadcaster of violating its media policy, but did not explain the legal basis for the move.
Veliullah Rahmani, CPJ’s representative in Afghanistan and Pakistan, said the Taliban administration has further narrowed the space for independent journalism by stopping BBC FM broadcasts. He called on the administration to immediately lift the suspension of BBC programmes and provide clarity on the reasons and legal basis for the decision.
Habib Ghafran, spokesman for the acting Taliban minister of information and culture, had earlier said without giving details that BBC radio’s activities had been suspended “for now” because of “repeated violations.”
This is not the first time the Taliban administration has halted broadcasts by an international media outlet. In 2022, it ordered local media to stop airing programmes from BBC, Deutsche Welle and Voice of America through their own transmitters.
The Nai media organisation reported on 21 August that in the five years of Taliban rule, more than 500 media outlets have shut down and more than 700 cases of violence against journalists and media workers have been recorded. According to the report, at least six journalists have been killed and about 400 journalists and media workers detained during this period.
