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In yet another blow to women’s rights in Afghanistan, the Taliban ordered television stations to stop airing programmes starring female musicians and said female scribes must wear hijabs in accordance with the Taliban’s interpretation of Islamic law. According to American broadcaster Voice of America (VOA), this decree is part of the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice’s new directives.
Female actresses are not allowed in films or dramas, according to one of the virtue ministry’s eight guidelines.
According to the report, the new policy prohibits television stations from airing men who are indecently exposed or who are not fully clothed from the chest to the knees.
The Taliban defended the order, claiming it was issued to combat “immorality” and the broadcasting of videos that “contravene Sharia norms.”
“Foreign and domestically produced films that promote foreign culture and customs in Afghanistan, as well as promote immorality, should not be screened,” the ministry declared.
The rules also make it illegal to broadcast satirical shows that “insult” or “undermine” people’s “dignity.”
After a decades-long war that threw the country into a humanitarian, security, and economic disaster, the Taliban gained control of Afghanistan in mid-August.
The Taliban have picked an all-male cabinet, despite all assurances of a more inclusive government.
They dissolved the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and handed the building to the resurrected Ministry of Vice and Virtue, which was responsible for some of the most heinous crimes against women during the Taliban’s previous reign of terror, which lasted from 1996 to 2001.
The United Nations this week called for a more inclusive administration in Afghanistan, citing the Taliban’s violation of women’s and girls’ fundamental rights.
“These range from restricting women’s ability to work to excluding them from key decision-making forums and high levels of government service,” Deborah Lyons, UN Special Representative and Head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, said (UNAMA).