Taliban Suspends BBC Broadcasts Across Afghanistan

Washington — Editor's note: this story was translated from the original VOA Pashto article.

The Taliban has suspended British Broadcasting Corporations’ (BBC) FM radio broadcasts across Afghanistan, the broadcaster confirmed in a statement on October 13.

"Millions of people across Afghanistan rely on the BBC for accurate news and information and we are working with the authorities to address the situation," the statement said.

Khubib Ghufran, the spokesperson for the Taliban government's Information and Culture ministry, said the BBC’s broadcast had been suspended for the "time being due to repeated violations," but did not provide details about the alleged violations.

The BBC had been the only major international broadcaster operating on FM radio in Afghanistan since the Taliban banned Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) from domestic broadcasting in 2022.

Despite those restrictions, VOA has continued providing daily news to Afghan audiences through alternative distribution methods. The broadcaster transmits radio programs through medium-wave transmitters located outside Afghanistan and delivers television content to Afghan audiences via satellite.

The suspension of the BBC’s FM broadcasts in Afghanistan comes at a time when radio remains “the primary source of information among Afghans, with 80.4% of the population being regular listeners and 72.1% owning a radio,” according to a United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) report.

The latest move adds to growing concerns over media freedom in Afghanistan. Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban have imposed wide-ranging restrictions on journalists and media organizations, leading to the closure of dozens of outlets and significantly reducing access to independent reporting.

“They have largely destroyed Afghanistan’s media landscape, creating such a climate of fear that Afghan journalists cannot genuinely investigate or report,” said Fereshta Abbasi, Afghanistan researcher at Human Rights Watch.

“The Taliban have detained and tortured journalists, severely limited what the media can report, and worked directly in newsrooms to suppress any critical content,” Abbasi added.

In the five years, the Taliban “have methodically turned Afghanistan into a prison for information” media freedom watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) said in a report. “Journalism is increasingly throttled as criticism of the regime is forbidden, women face sweeping restrictions, political debate has been silenced, and broadcasting images of living beings is banned.”

The BBC said its radio programming remains available through satellite services as well as shortwave and medium-wave frequencies, allowing audiences in Afghanistan to continue accessing its broadcasts.