Taliban’s new decree: ban on telecast of shows with female actresses on TV channels

New Delhi: In the latest decree, Afghanistan’s Taliban officials on Sunday issued a new “religious guideline” aimed at curtailing television channels in the country from showing dramas and soap operas featuring female actors. According to an AFP report, issued by the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Vice of Prevention, the Taliban also asked female television journalists to wear Islamic hijab when presenting their reports.

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In addition, the ministry also barred channels from airing films or programs featuring the Prophet Muhammad or other revered figures.

It has called for a ban on films or programs that were against Islamic and Afghan values. “These are not rules but religious guidelines,” ministry spokesman Hakif Mohajir told AFP while sharing the guidelines.

The guideline was widely circulated on social media networks. Even after Taiban promised a more liberal regime, this time, the extremist organization beat and harassed many Afghan journalists despite announcing rules for women’s dress at the university and promising to uphold the freedom of the press.

After two decades of proliferation under Western-backed governments that ruled the country until August 15, when Islamists took power, the latest guidelines for TV networks have been applied to Afghan media.

Several television channels and radio stations were established with Western aid and private investment soon after the Taliban coup in 2001.

Over the past 20 years, people have enjoyed various programs broadcast on Afghan television channels, including an “American Idol” style singing competition for several Turkish and Indian soap operas as well as music videos. In his previous regime from 1996 to 2001, there was no Afghan media to mention as he banned television, movies and other forms of entertainment, considering it immoral.

Those found watching TV were punished and their sets were vandalized because of the video player, which could have meant being publicly lashed. There was only one radio station, Voice of Sharia, which broadcast propaganda and Islamic programming.