RASC News Agency: Saad Mohseni, the founder and owner of the MOBY Group, which operates media outlets such as Tolo TV, Tolo News, Lemar, and others, has called on the international community to engage with the Taliban before Afghanistan turns into “another North Korea.” Mohseni has described such engagement as “the last opportunity to restore a fraction of Afghanistani women’s freedoms.” According to The Australian newspaper, which interviewed Mohseni, he has been discreetly lobbying the Trump administration to foster increased U.S. interaction with the Taliban. Mohseni contends that this approach could potentially reinstate some rights for women and increase the likelihood of girls returning to school.
“We need to engage with our former adversaries (the Taliban) before it’s too late,” Mohseni stated. His remarks come as Donald Trump has nominated outspoken critics of the Taliban to key positions for his potential next administration. Among them is Mike Waltz, Trump’s proposed National Security Advisor, who sharply criticized Zalmay Khalilzad during a congressional hearing last February for suggesting that the Taliban had successfully controlled al-Qaeda and ISIS. Waltz argued, “Relying on one terrorist group to eradicate another is reckless and a monumental mistake.”
In an earlier interview with Sky News, Mohseni asserted that the Taliban had “evolved” and pointed to their usage of social media platforms such as WhatsApp and TikTok as evidence of this evolution. He further claimed that “the Taliban can be reformed,” highlighting the existence of pragmatic leaders within their ranks alongside hardliners. According to Mohseni, engaging with these pragmatic leaders could facilitate reforms from within the Taliban’s structure.
The MOBY Group encompasses a wide array of media ventures, including Tolo TV, Lemar, Tolo News, Arman Radio, Barbud Music Studio, Kabura Productions, Arakozia Radio, and the Dariya app. Despite its significant role in Afghanistan’s media landscape, the group has faced extensive criticism. Many Afghanistanis believe that no media outlet in the past two decades has championed the Taliban’s narrative as extensively as Tolo and its affiliates. Critics allege that these platforms exploited press freedoms to undermine the previous government and societal trust, ultimately enabling the Taliban’s resurgence and return to power.
