RASC News Agency: The Afghanistan Journalists Center has reported that the Taliban in Khost province have declared women’s telephone contact with the media “illegitimate” and prohibited it. This center disclosed a letter from the Taliban group on Sunday, Feb 25, warning media officials of potential investigation if they receive calls from women.
A formal letter from the Taliban group, signed by Abdul Rashid Omari, the commander of Aminah in Khost province, has been publicized by the Afghanistan Journalists Center. In this official letter, Mr. Omari deemed telephone contact with the media for women and girls in Khost province illegitimate and declared it forbidden. In a formal letter from the Taliban group signed on Saturday, Feb 24, some private radios in Khost have been accused of “moral corruption.”
According to the letter, some women and girls contact radios during social programs or school broadcasts, which they consider “illegitimate contacts” and involvement in “moral corruption.” The letter emphasizes that local radios and televisions in Khost province broadcast school curriculum programs without permission from the Taliban’s religious leadership.
It warns that media officials disobeying this order will be summoned and face legal consequences. The Afghanistan Journalists Center stated that the Taliban’s command, threatening journalists and media officials in Khost with summons and legal actions, violates the law on public media.
This comes as the Taliban group, after taking over the country, has imposed numerous restrictions on media and journalists’ activities, as well as on women’s lives in society, suppressing them.
