The Taliban announced on Thursday 1er December banning the broadcasting of the Afghan service of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a decision denounced by this station financed by the American Congress.
Azadi, which means ” freedom “broadcasts in Dari and Pashtun and was partly devoted to educational programs for Afghan girls, who have been deprived of school since the Taliban took power last year.
A Taliban information ministry official, Abdul Haq Hammad, tweeted that Azadi, formerly Radio Free Afghanistan, had been taken off the air for “failure to respect journalistic principles and [pour] its unilateral coverage”.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, which is funded by the US Congress but is editorially independent, upheld the ban, stressing that it was looking for other ways to provide its service to Afghans.
” A lifeline “
“Azadi is a lifeline for tens of millions of Afghans, which makes the Taliban’s decision all the more tragic”lamented in a press release the president of the radio, Jamie Fly.
Azadi had already closed his office in Afghanistan after the Taliban returned to power in August 2021 following the hasty withdrawal of US forces from the country.
The Taliban imposed an ultra-rigorous interpretation of Islam and gradually introduced increasingly strict rules, for example closing secondary schools for girls.