Around 120 Afghan radio stations have ceased broadcasting since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, according to the Afghan Independent Journalists’ Union (AIJA), which said some 1,900 journalists have been left unemployed as a result.
The AIJA has issued a statement on the occasion of Radio Day detailing that 117 of the 345 stations that were active before the Taliban takeover have ceased broadcasting «due to economic problems».
It also noted that this situation has caused 1,900 journalists and media workers, including 1,079 women, to lose their jobs, before adding that 223 stations are currently active in Afghanistan.
In this line, the Nai organization, which supports independent media in the Central Asian country, highlighted that about half of the stations have ceased operations, as reported by the Afghan news agency Jaama Press.
Nai said that during the last two decades, about 307 stations were opened in Afghanistan, 48 percent of which have ceased operations since the reestablishment of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan in August 2021.
The Taliban, which announced the restoration of the Islamic Emirate nearly 20 years after being ousted from power by a U.S.-led military intervention following the September 11, 2001 attacks, has implemented a battery of restrictions that reduce the space for civil society and the freedoms of the population.
The group has installed a government marked by a lack of women and representatives of other political groups and has faced criticism for the closure of educational centers and the exclusion of female students from them, amid a series of measures against women that keep them away from their jobs and govern aspects of their daily lives.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
