Helmand province’s Department of Information and Culture has told a journalist he can no longer interview women.
Farhad* had notified the department he intended to go to one of Helmand’s districts for a story. It’s a practice that has been introduced by Taliban authorities in the southern province. It’s said to be a way of helping journalists set up interviews and sources for their stories. But as Farhad discovered, it is also a means of controlling what the journalists cover.
Farhad had planned a trip to Sangin district for a story on health services in the area, with medical access for women being part of that story. He noted that he would be talking to female doctors and patients. “I was told that I do not have the right to interview women,” he says, adding that Mawlawi Qasim Riaz, the deputy department of information and culture of the Taliban in Helmand, sent him a WhatsApp text saying in Pashto, “Stay away from women.”
Wahidullah Wahdat, head of the Helmand Journalists’ Union, confirmed that the Taliban have forbidden Helmand journalists from interviewing women. He says that this matter was mentioned once in the coordination meeting held between Taliban spokespersons and journalists, where journalists asked for permission to interview the women. But the Taliban refused.
Farhad says the new restriction is a step towards silencing Helmandi women’s voices completely. “Even if I speak to them as a reporter, women’s freedom and rights have no value now. If a woman is not even allowed to be interviewed, let women’s right aside, there is no human rights.”
He believes this restriction will cause harm to society, especially women. “An interview is something in which they can demand their rights. Whoever cannot demand their rights, it is clear that their rights are violated and no one will pay attention to them,” he says.
Women have been banned from many professions and workplaces in Helmand, Farhad says. Only a handful of women work in the health department, which is less than other provinces. “According to the Taliban, there is no need for women in any department, except in the health department,” he adds.
Officials at the Department did not explain the reason for the ban, only saying that it is the decision of the Taliban Governor’s Office in Helmand. “We were told by information and culture department that Helmand has a traditional society where local officials and elders of Helmand do not allow a man to interview a woman,” Farhad says. “So we asked if a woman can interview a woman, and they said, No that is not possible either.”
Farhad says Pashto culture is being used as a pretext and instead the decision is driven more by a desire to silence women, especially those who have been trying to have their voices heard. “In my opinion, they don’t want women’s voices to be published and for them to talk about their problems,” he says. “Women should raise their voices and say that our rights should be given to us.”
Suffocating restrictions
Malalai*, 40, was a women’s rights activist in Helmand province during the previous government. After the return of the Taliban, she was forced to stay at home like most women. Mrs. Malalai says the actions of the Taliban are the equivalent of stepping on women’s throats with the news of a prohibition on interviewing women deeply disappointing.
“The right to freedom of expression has been taken away from the women and girls of Helmand. This has caused them to be harassed and abused day by day. An utterly disappointing environment has been created for women. Day by day, the Taliban are narrowing the space for Helmandi women. A society has been created that is like a prison where women do not even have the right to breathe.”
Mr. Wahdat of the Helmand Journalists’ Union says the media situation in Helmand is disappointing with media outlets becoming fewer and more controlled. He says since the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in August 2021, three local TV stations Sabawoon, Bakhtar and Zhwandoon have stopped broadcasting, with only the national television, under Taliban control, broadcasting in the province. A further three radio stations Muska, Samoon, and Zhwandoon have stopped broadcasting of 11 local stations.
Before August 2021, there were 11 women working as journalists in Helmand. Now there is not even one. “The situation of female journalists was good in the past, they all had a living,” he says. “But now there is no information about them. I only know about some of them who were my colleagues. Their economic situation is not good. Now they are unemployed.”
The ban on interviewing women comes just over two weeks after a ban on photography and video recording for news reports. The Afghanistan Journalists’ Center (AFJC) reported the ban on February 21, saying the Taliban had ordered local journalists in Helmand to refrain from taking photos and videos during interviews.
“Reporters have been told that it is free to conduct interviews and prepare audio and written reports without pictures,” the organization said. “Following the issuance of this order, reporters in Helmand could not prepare a video report today.”
The AFJC have condemned the Taliban’s move, calling it an illegal action aimed at weakening the media and freedom of expression.
Sardar Wali*, a journalist in Helmand, confirmed that video and photography had been banned in Helmand for the past two weeks. He says the order was communicated to them by Taliban officials from the Department of Information and Culture, which again said it was a directive taken by the Taliban governor’s office. “In my opinion and the opinion of other journalists that we talked to, the reason for this action is a request from the Virtue and Vice department who told the governor and then the governor ordered that no one could to take photos or videos.”
Mr Wali says in the past fortnight of the new restriction, the situation is deteriorating with some important Taliban offices in Helmand also refusing to provide information or answer questions. “There are differences among the [Taliban] officials. For example, the virtue and vice department does not talk to the reporter at all, and the same goes with the governor’s office,” he says. “Some other departments are the same, but some departments are good. Like the departments of education and refugees and repatriation who talk to journalists.”
* This person has requested a pseudonym be used for security reasons
