By Muzhda Mohammadi
The Taliban has ramped up production of media content in line with its ideology, starting at least three radio stations in the western Herat province since April.
The move is unlike its first time in power in the 1990s when “Voice of Shariat” was the only media broadcast of the Taliban.
Afghanistan’s de facto authorities launched the three new radio stations – Shariat, Huriat, and Saday-e-Omid (Voice of Hope) – on April 1.
At an inauguration ceremony, the Taliban’s Deputy Minister of Publications at the Ministry of Information and Culture Mahajer Farahi said the aim of establishing the stations is to “combat foreign cultural propaganda and invasion.”
Rukhshana Media’s analysis of Huriat’s content has found that the broadcasts tend to consist only of Taliban-aligned experts and religious scholars with content mostly promoting religious extremism and violence, especially against women, both directly and indirectly.
The programs include Adabi Marghalari, Da Tarano Dali, Tarbiyat Fikri, Da Wolas Paigham (Message of the Nation), Quran Education, Baghcha-e-Ahadith, Porsesh Huriat, and news updates.
Not one single program features a female voice.
launched Saday-e-Omid radio station. Image: Supplied
Misogyny promoted as virtue
One of Huriat’s programs is called Holy Family Laws, which focuses on the role of male guardianship in the family. The man’s responsibility is more frequently cast as one that requires women’s role to obey, serve, and bear children. And its also his responsibility to ensure women adhere to this role.
On May 7, a program presented the idea that a man is responsible for dictating all the behaviors of his wife and daughters, and if not he will enter eternal suffering.
“A man’s responsibility is as far as the Almighty God says: save yourself and your family from the fire,” the speaker on the program said.
In a broadcast on May 15, a religious scholar said a woman is the center of human creation who should focus on childbirth and childrearing.
“The mother is the School (al-umm al-madrasa). A mother who raises Salahuddin and Umar ibn Abd al-Aziz [faithful Muslims] and a mother who trains the Mujahideen [holy warriors].
“If a woman is corrupt, the children will be corrupt, and if the children are corrupt, society will be corrupt,” he said.
In a discussion about the interpretation of the concept of dayooth based on a hadith on May 8, men were encouraged to control women.
“A dayooth is someone indifferent towards his family’s honor,” a religious scholar said on the program.
Hurrait radio station. Image: Supplie
The Taliban’s views on women have been enshrined in decrees that have sought to restrict women’s lives to the point they have little autonomy to thrive.
Women are banned from high schools and universities, banned from most workplaces, banned from recreational sport and many other activities such as national parks, amusement parks and garden restaurants, banned from travelling without a male chaperone, and dozens of other restrictive directives.
Threats, abuse, and arbitrary arrests for minor transgressions ensure these decrees are mostly followed, and in this way, the Taliban enforce a society where women stay at home, are subservient, and almost entirely dependent on the men in their households.
The Taliban have also imposed the rules on Afghan men to uphold these decrees by punishing them if women in their families do not obey the de facto laws.
For example, under the Taliban’s strict hijab directive, it states that if a woman violates it by wearing something the Taliban deems inappropriate, her male guardian will be dismissed from any government job he holds or even imprisoned.
In Huriat’s program Understanding the Quran, a Taliban-supporting religious scholar Mawlawi Salahuddin Omar cast those who question the hijab directive as merely immoral people with impure tendencies.
“Why do you commute with women and not let them wear the hijab? If seeing them is enjoyable for you, let them cover their faces. Your heart is not pure, your tongue is not pure, and you are not pure. You just want to turn the faith of a believing Muslim into disbelief through this doubt,” he said.
Extremes of faith and fighting
Absolute adherence to the Taliban-aligned Islamic teachings is heavily promoted on the programs. Questioning anything is shamed.
“Under Sharia law, asking questions is not appropriate and brings a person closer to disbelief,” Mawlawi Omar said in one program.
Other forms of extremism including terrorism are also promoted.
On May 23, a religious scholar instructed women to whisper jihadist phrases to their children instead of singing lullabies “so they become familiar with Jihad”.
“The mothers of our nation should whisper words like ‘Allahu Akbar’, ‘Long live the Mujahid’, and similar phrases into their children’s ears instead of lullabies, so that in their mother’s arms they become familiar with the name of Jihad and the arduous path in the way of religion,” the religious scholar said.
The religious scholar continued to outline his meaning for Jihad, saying that every society needs specialists in bomb-making, grenades, frontline warfare, and tank manufacturing, just as much as it needs specialists in politics, medicine, and agriculture.
He underlined a need for people willing to die for the cause, which could be a veiled reference to suicide bombers.
“Some people must burn themselves so that others can benefit from their light,” he said.
In a program titled Revolutionary Torches which airs Fridays, a message that’s repeatedly broadcast hails the Taliban fighters who martyr themselves: “The easiest way to escape the fire of Hell is martyrdom.”
The Taliban also broadcasts content about controversial decrees that are rarely addressed by the group’s leaders.
For example, the banning of girls education above the grade six at school has been unpopular across the country. On the rare occasions the Taliban leadership discuss it, they say it’s still under consideration.
But on Huriat Radio, guests have explained what they see as solid reasons for banning it.
On one program, a guest labelled the establishment of universities as a scheme aimed at “producing an irreligious generation” and welcomed women being banned from it.
“They [Islam’s enemies] have stayed awake and sleepless to devise their programs and have planned universities according to their minds for the destruction of Islam – see the examples of young people being educated there,” the guest said.
“The magic of Western civilization has been debunked in the same way and can no longer deceive the eyes and captivate the minds.”
The glorification of suicide bombers
The Taliban’s leaders and supporters have often attributed the victory in the war against the Americans and the Afghan National Security Forces to their suicide units. It’s a topic often covered by the radio programs.
In a program called Intellectual Training which aired on May 14, a Taliban religious scholar proudly referenced suicide bombers as those to whom the country is founded on.
“This government is neither a democracy nor has it been established through the Bonn Conference, and blind-faith slaves haven’t settled here to establish this government at the behest of Europe. Instead, it has been created with the blood of martyrs, scholars, and Quran memorizers,” he said.
“America has left. I want to tell their slaves, puppets, democracy advocates that the gates are open, go. The occupation of Afghanistan is over. The trash must leave as well,” he said.
He went on to threaten those who criticize the Taliban: “Some people have evil propaganda, or they are sick. This government will go after those who are sick and have ill motives.”
Fears for the ‘Talibanization’ of society
The Taliban’s efforts to establish the radio programs is an attempt to align society’s values with its ideology, but it could have destructive long-term consequences, according to media analysts.
Former Executive Director of NAI – Supporting Open Media in Afghanistan Mujib Khelwatgar said that the Taliban is trying to shift the deep cultural tensions it’s facing.
“Cities like Herat, which are cultural hubs, can be challenging for the Taliban. Establishing media to present an antidote against the culture of Herat and the knowledge that the people of Herat possess could be seen as a solution [by the Taliban],” he said.
“In other words, they want to tackle any cultural tensions against them through the media, and as I see it, they think this is the best way to do so.”
He said that, unlike the Taliban of the 90s that shunned media, the group has been growing in using it effectively for the past 20 years and even more so since its takeover of Afghanistan.
“The Taliban knows that they cannot change cultural activities by mere force,” Mr Khelwatgar said.
“During the Republic, they focused on using public social media platforms to their advantage. I know of cases where someone who was their spokesperson had seven different voices [account profiles].
“They won’t ignore any bit of media until they have every media outlet covered. This is not like their past approaches but rather an entirely new approach.”
Mr Khelwatgar said the move may also be a way of capturing the attention of women and turning their minds to embrace Taliban ideology while they are not able to attend any external classes.
“For the past three years in Afghanistan, we haven’t seen any conducive environment for girls above the sixth grade. Nevertheless, [girls and women] are inclined towards seeking knowledge, seeking learning. So, undoubtedly [by listening to the radio] this media coverage will help attract and recruit some individuals towards them, and at the very least, help them garner support from the females,” he said.
He feared that the consequence of this action in the longterm would gradually lead society towards a sort of “Talibanization” of society.
“We have a country where the majority of the population are illiterate. In such a situation, the media can be very dangerous, for the future of Afghanistan, and human rights values, and in some cases, it can even make people stand against these values,” he said.
Former member of Afghanistan’s parliament and diplomat Shukria Barakzai is concerned the Taliban’s methods are going to turn more people towards extremist views.
“The Taliban are using the simplest tools to promote their ideas and their interpretation of Sharia law through the media to have more supporters and to keep people away from the real teachings of Islam, making them think that what the Taliban says is Sharia law,” Ms Barakzai said.
“Whether we like it or not, the result of this heavily impacts the younger generation, turning Afghanistan into an extremist and dangerous country, especially if these forces turn into militant forces and, in our terms, become suicide bombers.”
A former lecturer from Herat University’s journalism faculty Sohaila Erfani agrees that this is the Taliban’s goal.
“This [radio programming] indicates that the Taliban seek to promote their extremist activities based on religious rhetoric, and to brainwash the minds of young people,” she said.
“They aim to continue their authoritarian and dictatorial dominance through such ideologies.”
She said that to counter the extremist ideologies by the Taliban, there needs to be a growth in public awareness about such methods and policies and alternative content widely shared.
“We can combat such extremist ideologies by promoting religious enlightenment, addressing what true religion is and what issues really concern women’s rights,” she said.
