In another move aimed at curtailing rights, the Afghan Taliban have banned women from acting in Television dramas. The ban is a part of a new set of rules issued by the Taliban for the media and television industry.
The new guidelines include a ban on films that are ‘against the laws of Sharia or the values of the Afghan nation’. Comedy and entertainment shows considered to be offensive to religion and insulting to Afghans have also been prohibited. Foreign content, promoting other cultures, has also been banned.
Female journalists and news anchors have also been instructed to wear headscarves while working, while women working in Kabul’s local administration have been told to stay at home as their positions will be filled by men.
Hujjatullah Mujaddedi, an Afghan journalist, while talking to the BBC said that new restrictions would force media companies to close their business if they were implemented in letter and spirit.
These bans come in the wake of the new rulers in Kabul banning girls and young women from attending school, making Afghanistan the only country in the world with such a regressive education policy. The Taliban, who are desperately trying to get Afghanistan’s foreign assets unfrozen, say that these restrictions are temporary.
The Afghan Taliban had gained control of the country’s government in mid-August following the US withdrawal from the war-ravaged region.
