The Taliban has banned the Voice of America (VOA) and the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) from airing its news programs in Afghanistan.
The ban is the latest in a series of restrictions the Islamist group has imposed on Afghan media to stifle freedom of expression since taking control of the country last August.
VOA, which is headquartered in Washington, has swiftly denounced the Taliban for taking its programs off air.
“We ask the Taliban to reconsider this troubling and unfortunate decision,” Acting VOA Director Yolanda Lόpez said in a statement Sunday. “The content restrictions that the Taliban are attempting to impose are antithetical to freedom of expression that the people of Afghanistan deserve,” said Lόpez.
The BBC World Service also responded to the ban on their services, the head of languages has urged the group to remove the ban.
“The BBC’s TV news bulletins in Pashto, Persian and Uzbek have been taken off air in Afghanistan, after the Taliban ordered our TV partners to remove international broadcasters from their airwaves,” Tarik Kafala confirmed in a statement on Sunday.
