KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Local sources in western Herat province report that the Taliban’s Department of Virtue and Vice has instructed local authorities not to participate in video interviews with media.
According to the sources, the department issued the new directive today, November 16, and shared it with other local government offices in the province.
According to the sources, the new restriction followed an incident during the saffron festival in the province, where, despite the interview ban, the Taliban deputy governor, Muhajir Farahi, conducted a video interview with local media.
Local Taliban authorities have not yet commented on the matter.
This ban follows similar restrictions already implemented in five other provinces, including Kandahar, Takhar, Badghis, Helmand, and most recently, Nangarhar.
The new regulation is part of a broader effort by the Taliban to suppress media freedom. Over the past three years, the regime has issued more than 21 directives targeting the media, severely restricting press freedom and access to information.
The Taliban’s newly enacted so-called “morality law,” which bans the broadcast of images of living beings, has worsened the situation, resulting in the closure of many TV stations in the country.
Earlier, after the enforcement of a similar ban in eastern Nangarhar province, the Afghanistan Journalist Center, a media watchdog, urged the Taliban authorities to reconsider the ban and allow media to operate in accordance with Afghanistan’s Media Law.
The regime’s crackdown has resulted in the closure of over half of the country’s media outlets, including television and radio stations. According to a March report by The Afghanistan Journalist’s Support Organization (AJSO), only 13 of 91 print newspapers, 68 of 248 TV channels, and 211 of 438 radio stations remain active in the country.
