The BBC is prevented from broadcasting its television bulletins in Afghanistan and on Sunday called on the Taliban to reconsider their decision to allow the immediate resumption of the broadcasting of programs from the British audiovisual group.
“BBC TV news bulletins in Pashtun, Persian and Uzbek have been taken off the air in Afghanistan, after the Taliban ordered our TV partners to take international broadcasters off their air,” a statement said. press release Tarik Kafala, Head of Languages at BBC World Service.
“We call on the Taliban to reconsider their decision and allow our television partners to immediately broadcast BBC news bulletins on their airwaves”, he continued, denouncing a “worrying development in this period of uncertainty and turbulence for the Afghan people”.
More than six million Afghans watch BBC programs every week, said Tarik Kafala, “it is crucial that they are not deprived of it in the future”.
The decision comes as Islamist fundamentalists, in power in Afghanistan since August 2021 and the withdrawal of US troops, reversed their decision on Wednesday to allow girls to study in secondary school, just hours after the reopening which had been long announced.
In seven months of governance, the Islamists have swept away 20 years of freedom won by women and imposed a multitude of restrictions on them.
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