Afghan TV station reopens after closure by Taliban authorities

KABUL: An Afghan TV station resumed operations Saturday, its leadership said, after being shut down in December by the Taliban morality ministry.
Seals placed on Arezo TV’s doors in Kabul were removed in the presence of the country’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (PVPV), said station head Bassir Abid, who reported that the outlet had “resumed our operations.”
Taliban authorities shut down the TV station on December 4 after the PVPV accused the channel of being supported by exiled media and of betraying Islamic values.
Seven of Arezo TV’s employees were arrested but released later in December, while the media outlet remained shuttered.
The Taliban government has not yet indicated the reason the station was allowed to reopen.
The Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC), a press freedom group, welcomed the reopening but said in a statement it considered the closure “a flagrant violation of free media rights that should not have happened.”
The channel, founded in 2006 in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, opened an office in Kabul in 2010 to produce wildlife documentaries and dub Turkish series, according to AFJC.
Afghanistan’s media sector has dramatically shrunk under three years of the Taliban government, while international monitors have criticized Kabul’s new rulers for allegedly trampling reporters’ rights.
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) says the country’s Taliban authorities closed at least 12 media outlets in 2024.
Government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid has previously said there are no restrictions on journalists, as long as they “consider the national interest and Islamic values and avoid spreading rumors.”
In early February, Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities raided well-known women’s radio station Radio Begum in Kabul and suspended its broadcasts.