BBC’s TV News Bulletins In Pashto ‘Banned’ by Taliban In Afghanistan

Kabul: BBC’s TV news bulletins in Pashto, Persian and Uzbek have been taken off air in Afghanistan.

The British broadcaster said the Taliban regime ordered its television partners to remove international broadcasters from their airwaves.

“This is a worrying development at a time of uncertainty and turbulence for the people of Afghanistan. More than six million Afghans consume the BBC’s independent and impartial journalism on TV every week and it is crucial they are not denied access to it in the future,” Tarik Kafala, head of languages at BBC World Service, said in a statement.

Kafala urged the Taliban to reverse their decision and allow “our TV partners to return the BBC’s news bulletins to their airwaves immediately.”

The broadcaster said BBC World Service has been providing news, science, entertainment and other programmes to its viewers, readers and listeners across Afghanistan for decades.

“BBC Pashto TV’s half-hour programme, which airs daily at 6 pm, has more than six million viewers in Afghanistan alone,” the broadcaster said.