RB News World Latest News
Related Articles
Kabul: The Taliban on Thursday instructed journalists and experts not to work with Afghanistan International TV. This is the first time that the Taliban has asked people not to cooperate with any media organization. ‘Afghanistan International TV’ is headquartered in London and can be seen via satellite, cable and social media.
‘The channel is crossing legal limits’
A spokesman for the Taliban-controlled Ministry of Information and Culture accused the channel of disregarding the profession and overstepping ethical and legal boundaries. Ministry spokesman Habib Ghufran said the Media Violations Commission wants all journalists and experts in Afghanistan to stop their cooperation with the channel. “In the commission meeting held yesterday (Wednesday), it was decided that participating in the discussions of this media organization and broadcasting in public places is prohibited,” Gufran said.
Channel will not be affected
Harun Najafizada, director of ‘Afghanistan International TV’, said that this decision will not affect the channel as it has no employees in the country and neither does it have any independent journalists working for it. “We depend on reporting from Afghan citizens,” Najafizada said.
Situation of press freedom in Afghanistan
Afghanistan’s performance in terms of press freedom is very poor. The country is ranked 178th out of 180 in Reporters Without Borders’ latest index. Last year it was ranked 152nd. Recently the Taliban suspended two TV stations for “failing to consider national and Islamic values”.
