The Taliban shut down an Afghan women’s music station

A Taliban official said on Saturday that a women-run radio station in northeastern Afghanistan has been shut down for playing music during the holy month of Ramadan.

Sadai Banowan, which means Women’s Voice in Dari, is the only female-run station in Afghanistan and started 10 years ago. It has eight employees, six of whom are female.

Moezuddin Ahmadi, director of media and culture in Badakhshan province, said the station had violated “the laws and regulations of the Islamic Emirate” several times by broadcasting songs and music during Ramadan and was shut down due to the breach.

Ahmadi said, “If this radio station accepts the policy of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and gives a guarantee that it will not repeat such a thing again, we will allow it to operate again.”

The head of the center, Najia Soroush, denied that any violation had taken place, saying that there was no need for closure and described it as a conspiracy. Taliban “You told us that you broadcast music. She said, ‘We did not broadcast any kind of music.’”

Soroush said that at 11:40 a.m. on Thursday, representatives of the Ministry of Information and Culture and the Virtue Directorate arrived at the station and shut it down. She said station staff contacted Vice and Virtue but officials there said they did not have any additional information about the closure.

Many journalists lost their jobs after the Taliban seized power in August 2021. Media outlets have closed down due to lack of funds or because staff have left the country, according to the Afghan Independent Journalists Association.

The Taliban barred women from most forms of work and education after the sixth grade, including university. There is no official ban on music. During their previous rule in the late 1990s, the Taliban banned most television, radio, and newspapers in the country.