RASC News Agency: The Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice claims to have “reformed” 90% of the content broadcasted by visual, auditory, and print media across the country. The ministry also asserts that, over the past year, it has destroyed 30,000 “immoral films.” However, the ministry has not provided detailed information regarding these actions, merely labeling the initiative as an effort to “reform society.”
Following the Taliban’s seizure of power in Afghanistan, the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice issued a directive to media outlets, mandating that the presence of women in media activities conform to the ministry’s strict guidelines. The Taliban ordered that women, including female journalists, must wear face coverings when appearing on television. In a recent report, the United Nations identified this Taliban ministry as the most significant violator of human rights in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan.
The UN report highlights that the conduct of individuals affiliated with this Taliban ministry in various provinces often contradicts the directives and claims of their leaders in Kabul. The report also notes that, in the third year of Taliban rule, 181 incidents of media freedom violations and journalist harassment, including threats and arrests, were documented.
It is clear that free media have no place in any totalitarian or authoritarian regime. The Taliban regime is not only a religiously oppressive entity but also an ethnically monolithic and culturally totalitarian administration. The Taliban, driven by an ethnic and tribal mindset, in collaboration with the remnants of the former Republic and its supporters, took control of the country. However, the media and Afghanistan’s cultural society remained beyond their reach. Over the past three years, the Taliban have relentlessly pursued the censorship and restriction of media operations. Today, there is no discernible difference between Afghanistan’s once-free media and state-controlled television; all have been transformed into platforms for Taliban propaganda, serving as apologists for the group’s extremist ideologies in the country.
