The Taliban has begun enforcing a ban on media outlets airing “images of living beings” in Afghanistan, as confirmed by an Afghan official to the news portal Associated Press. This move is part of the militant group’s Vice and Virtue Ministry’s laws announced in August, which also prohibit women’s voices and bare faces.
Article 17 of the legislation, approved by supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, bans the publication of any images depicting living beings. Media in the Afghan provinces of Maidan Wardak, Kandahar, and Takhar have been advised not to show images of anything with a soul. State media was directly told not to air such images by the ministry, with independent local media also stopping the broadcast of these images.
The extremity of the legislation has caused international concern, particularly regarding laws about women. Women’s voices are considered too “intimate” and are banned from singing or reading aloud in public. Women are also required to wear veils in public.
Afghanistan is the only Muslim-majority country enforcing this broadcasting rule. The Taliban’s enforcement of these laws has sparked widespread concern about the country’s direction since the U.S. withdrawal.
Hujjatullah Mujadidi, director of the Afghan Independent Journalists Union, reported that local media has stopped running videos and images of living beings, opting instead for nature videos. This shift reflects the Taliban’s tightening grip on media freedom in Afghanistan.