Local Taliban officials have threatened a media network in Nangarhar province with shutdown and widespread arrests after women attended media training, local sources said.
The Taliban’s Vice and Virtue police informed privately-owned Hamisha Bahar Radio and Television last week that women were not allowed to attend training at its Jalalabad office.
The police gave the directive in person, threatening action against the network if the order was disobeyed, including closure of the channel and arrest of employees.
Hamisha Bahaar managing director Atal Khan Stanekzai said that 15 women were due to participate in the training when it was forced to cancel the course.
He said the network has regularly held professional development media courses in past years with both women and men present, where participants honed their skills in news writing, reporting, broadcasting techniques, and radio broadcasting.
He said the network was forced to stop the training on March 19 after the Taliban threats.
Rukhshana Media has contacted the Vice and Virtue department in Nangarhar for comment but had not received a response at the time of publication.
Hamisha Bahar was forced to close temporarily last year by the local Taliban authorities after morality police raided the office and accused it of allowing women to attend the media training courses.
The network reopened after a three-week shutdown in August 2023.
Following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan in 2021, female journalists have faced extreme restrictions on their work and freedom, including a ban on women appearing on television.
In some provinces, there is also a ban on women’s voices being broadcast through radio.
