US Slams Taliban For Controlling Media, Education
Washington, March 29: The US has condemned the Taliban-appointed government in Afghanistan for its attempt to “stifle the Afghan people’s access to independent, objective, international media sources”.
State Department spokesperson Ned Price said, “Media outlets such as the Voice of America, the British Broadcasting Corporation, and Deutsche Welle have reported that their local broadcasting partners have been prevented from airing their programming in the country due to new, restrictive, and unpublished guidelines from the Taliban”.
On Monday, the Taliban government had barred local channels from international partners. Following the order, BC TV programming was taken off air in Afghanistan. Besides BBC, Voice of America, German company Deutsche Welle and China Global Television Network were also taken off air. The US also slammed Taliban for reversing its decision on opening schools for girls.
Price pointed out that the Talian continues to move Afghanistan in the wrong direction by failing to uphold commitments they have made, including their March 23 decision to prevent girls from attending secondary school.
“Each of these actions alone is alarming, but combined, they make clear the Taliban are not living up to the essential commitments they made to the Afghan people and the international community,” he said.
The spokesperson stressed that education and freedom of expression are human rights and not Western values or concessions to the international community. “We urge the Taliban to cease these infringements on the rights of Afghans, and we continue to stand with the Afghan people”, he added.
