KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Afghanistan Journalist Center (AFJC) reports that Taliban authorities have shut down Lawang Radio, a private station in eastern Khost province, for violating the ban on airing music and girls contacting media outlets.
In a statement today, the AFJC cited its media source, saying that the Taliban’s Virtue and Vice authorities “sealed and locked” the radio station’s office on Wednesday, November 6.
According to the AFJC, Lawang Radio, established in January 2024, serves as an educational platform, offering programs for schoolgirls who have been deprived of education by the Taliban. The radio broadcasts 18 hours a day and reaches audiences in Khost as well as a few neighboring provinces, including Paktia and Paktika.
The media watchdog expressed deep concern over the closure of the radio station, urging the immediate and unconditional reopening of the station and an end to media suppression in the province.
This marks the third private radio station to be closed in Khost province in the past week. The Taliban Virtue and Vice authorities shut down Zhman Radio on November 6 and Ghargasht Radio on October 31 for broadcasting music during their programs. Ghargasht Radio resumed operations after assuring authorities that it would no longer air music in its programs.
The Taliban, in addition to other forms of media restrictions, has banned the broadcast of all forms of music, warning radio and TV stations of potential consequences, including closure, if the ban is violated.
Over the past three years of their rule in Afghanistan, the Taliban have shut down dozens of local media outlets for various reasons, arrested, tortured, and killed reporters, and banned some international media outlets.
The Afghanistan Journalist’s Support Organization (AJSO), a German-based Afghan media watchdog, reported in March that only 13 out of 91 print newspapers, 68 out of 248 TV channels, and 211 out of 438 radio stations remain operational in Afghanistan. The rest of the outlets have either closed due to Taliban restrictions or relocated abroad.
