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Summary
The Taliban has banned the broadcasting of women’s voices on radio in Kandahar, further tightening media restrictions in Afghanistan, alongside prohibitions on cosmetic advertisements and the shutdown of the country’s only women-run radio station.
The Taliban has issued a new decree banning the broadcasting of women’s voices on radio and in news reports, further erasing women from Afghanistan’s media landscape. The directive also prohibits media from advertising cosmetic products without prior approval from the Taliban.
The latest restriction was announced in Kandahar, a southern province of Afghanistan. The province’s Information and Culture Directorate issued a directive on March 19 stating,
“The broadcast of women’s voices on the radio is absolutely prohibited, including the airing of any messages from women in entertainment programs.”
This marks an unprecedented development in Kandahar, where previous restrictions had limited the broadcasting of female voices but still allowed certain advertisements and programs produced in Kabul to feature women’s voices.
In addition to silencing female voices, the Taliban has also prohibited the advertisement of medicines, creams, cosmetic powders, and promotional content for clinics and hospitals unless officially authorised by the Public Health Directorate.
Kandahar currently has around a dozen radio stations, eleven of them private but no local television channels. The new restrictions align with a broader Taliban mandate issued last year that banned the broadcast of images of living beings on television, significantly hampering media operations in the country.
These latest media bans are part of a larger effort to curtail women’s rights in Afghanistan.
On January 4, 2025, the Taliban suspended operations at Afghanistan’s only women-run radio station, Radio Begum, following a raid on its premises in Kabul. Officials from the Taliban’s Information and Culture Ministry searched the station, restrained staff, and confiscated equipment, including computers, hard drives, files, and phones.
Since the Taliban took control of Kabul in August 2021, Afghanistan’s media landscape has drastically shrunk. Over half of the 547 media outlets operating before their takeover have since disappeared. Many journalists have fled the country due to safety concerns, while those who remain face threats, arrests, and increasing restrictions.
