- The Afghan Journalism Center (AFJC), a press freedom advocacy group, welcomed the reopening but said in a statement that it considered the closure “an egregious violation of free media rights that should not have happened.”
KABUL: An Afghan television station resumed broadcasting on Saturday, its management said, after it was shut down by the Taliban's morality ministry in December.
The seals placed on the doors of Arezo TV in Kabul were removed in the presence of the country's Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (PVPV), said the station's director, Bassir Abid, who said the channel had “resumed its operations.”
Taliban authorities shut down the channel on December 4 after PVPV accused the channel of supporting exiled media outlets and betraying Islamic values.
Seven Arezo TV employees were arrested but released later in December, while the outlet itself remained closed.
The Taliban government has not yet given a reason why the station was allowed to resume operations.
The Afghan Journalism Center (AFJC), a press freedom advocacy group, welcomed the reopening but said in a statement that it considered the closure “an egregious violation of free media rights that should not have happened.”
The channel, founded in 2006 in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, opened an office in Kabul in 2010 to produce wildlife documentaries and dub Turkish TV series, according to AFJC.
Afghanistan's media sector has shrunk sharply in three years of Taliban rule, while international observers have criticised Kabul's new rulers for allegedly trampling on journalists' rights.
According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), the Taliban authorities in the country closed at least 12 media outlets in 2024.
Government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid had previously said there were no restrictions on journalists as long as they “take into account national interests and Islamic values and avoid spreading rumours.”
In early February, Afghan Taliban authorities raided the well-known women's radio station Radio Begum in Kabul and suspended its broadcasts.
