Officials from Taliban said Saturday that a women-run radio station was shut down in Afghanistan’s northeast because it played music during the holy month Ramadan.
Sadai Banowan (which means “women’s voice” in Dari) is Afghanistan’s only woman-run station. It was established 10 years ago. It employs eight people, six of which are female.
Moezuddin Ahmadi was the Badakhshan provincial director for Information and Culture. He claimed that the station had repeatedly violated the Islamic Emirate’s “laws and regulations” by broadcasting songs and other music during Ramadan. The breach led to the station being shut down.
Ahmadi stated, “If this radio station accepts and guarantees that it will not repeat the same thing again, then we will allow it to continue operating.”
Najia Sorosh, the station head, denied that there had been any violation and said there was no reason for closure. She called it a conspiracy. The Taliban told us they had broadcast music. She said that we have not broadcast any type of music.
Sorosh stated that at 11:40 on Thursday, representatives from the Vice and Virtue Directorate and the Ministry of Information and Culture arrived at the station and closed it down. She stated that station staff had contacted Vice and Virtue, but they did not have any further information.
Many journalists were fired after the Taliban tookover in 2021. According to the Afghan Independent Journalists Association, media outlets were closed due to lack of funds or staff leaving the country.
The Taliban have banned women form all forms of education and employment beyond sixth grade. Music is not banned by the government. The Taliban had previously banned all media, including radio and television, from the country during their rule in late 1990s.
