Date: 21/07/1403

The private radio station Zheman was shut down in Khost Province by the local office of the Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, allegedly for broadcasting background music during a program. According to the Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC), the station was officially sealed at approximately 1:30 p.m. following a decision by a joint commission comprising representatives from the Departments of Promotion of Virtue, Information and Culture, Intelligence, and the Police Command.

Sources stated that the music in question consisted of light background music used during a morning program focused on social issues. The Promotion of Virtue authorities cited this as a violation of Taliban media policy, noting that the station had received a prior warning the previous week. The AFJC condemned the closure as a violation of media freedom and called on local authorities to immediately and unconditionally allow the station to resume operations.

The shutdown of Radio Zheman over the use of background music reflects the Taliban’s use of moral policing to censor media content and suppress independent broadcasting. By criminalizing non-ideological programming through administrative enforcement, the authorities impose ideological conformity on local media outlets. This action exemplifies the narrowing of media space under Taliban rule and the instrumentalization of virtue regulations to silence public discourse.