KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Taliban authorities have shut down Shamshad Radio and TV, a private Kabul-based station, accusing it of failing to properly cover recent clashes with Pakistan, the Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC) said Saturday.
The AFJC, citing its sources, stated that the suspension followed a direct order from the Taliban General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI) on Friday evening, October 17.
According to the watchdog, the station was accused of not “adequately” reporting on the border clashes and failing to “defend Taliban positions” during the fighting and Pakistan airstrikes in Afghanistan.
The AFJC condemned the move, describing it as “a blatant interference in the work of free media,” and urged the Taliban to reconsider and allow the station to resume operations.
“Such measures represent an explicit violation of media independence and freedom of expression,” the AFJC said. “Media outlets should operate based on professional journalistic standards and be accountable only for misconduct under the law.”
The Taliban and Shamshad TV officials have not commented on the suspension.
According to the AFJC, the station, established in Kabul in 2006, is an independent outlet that has provided diverse perspectives to the Afghan public. It had been one of the few stations continuing to operate despite increasing Taliban restrictions.
Since the Taliban’s return to power, Afghanistan’s free-press sector has nearly collapsed, with dozens of outlets closed or silenced and hundreds of journalists forced to flee.
The Taliban have issued more than 20 directives in recent years restricting media, including a so-called morality law enacted last year that deems images of living beings “un-Islamic.” The law, now enforced in over half of Afghanistan, has effectively shut down dozens of TV stations or forced them to operate as radio-only outlets.
A report last year by the Afghanistan Journalist’s Support Organization (AJSO), a German-based Afghan media watchdog, found that only 13 of 91 print newspapers, 68 of 248 TV channels, and 211 of 438 radio stations remain operational in Afghanistan. The remaining outlets have relocated abroad or closed due to Taliban restrictions or financial pressures.
