Afghanistan, the Taliban breaks into a female radio

The Taliban authorities of Afghanistan broke into the well -known Radio Begum Radio radio station, arresting two employees, said the issuer, who asked for the rapid release of his staff. The Taliban Ministry of Information said that the issuer was suspended for “multiple violations”, in the last search carried out by the government against local media in Afghanistan. “Officials of the General Directorate of H intelligence (GDI), assisted by representatives of the Ministry of Information and Culture, raided today at the Begum headquarters in Kabul”, reads a statement from Radio Begum.

The issuer said that the Taliban authorities retained the staff during the search of the office, kidnapping computers, hard disks and telephones and holding two male employees “who do not hold any managerial position”. The issuer said he did not want to provide further comments, fearing for the safety of detained employees, and asked that the authorities “take care of our colleagues and release them as soon as possible”.

In a declaration on the Social Media X website, the Taliban Ministry of Information stated that the issuer was suspended. “In addition to the multiple violations, he provided materials and programs to a television station based abroad,” he said. “Due to the violation of the radiodepelling policy and the improper use of the license (issued by the Ministry), the radio station was suspended today in order to carefully evaluate the relative documents and take a final decision”.

Radio Begum said he has never been involved in any political activity and to be “committed to serving the Afghan people and more in particular Afghan women”. The issuer was founded on March 8, 2021, International Women’s Day, five months before the Taliban went up to power, dirtying the government supported by the United States and implementing a rigid interpretation of the Islamic law. The Taliban authorities have imposed radical restrictions on women, excluding them from public life with rules that United Nations have called “gender apartheid”.

Women were excluded from secondary school and university and have been excluded from some types of work. The few women who still appear on television channels are covered except for the eyes. Many radio stations have stopped conveying female voices. The Radio Begum staff has broadcast programs for women, by women, including educational programs, books of books and telephone consultancy. In 2024, the Swiss-Afghan founder of Radio Begum, Hamida Aman, also launched a satellite television station, Begum TV, which broadcasts educational programs from Paris to help Afghan girls and women continue their studies.

Thousands of videos covering the Afghan national curriculum have been uploaded to a twin website, available for free for anyone who has an internet connection. The suspension of Radio Begum is the last action of this type against local media in Afghanistan. In December last year, the Afghan broadcaster Arenzo TV was closed and seven employees were arrested after the Taliban authorities said that his office was used for the dubbing of “vulgar” programs for the banned media. The Ministry for the propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice accused the people who worked within Areti TV of providing content to the Afghan media based outside the country, which were heavily limited by the Taliban authorities.