Louise Bernard with AFP, edited by Manon Fossat 11:19 am, November 23, 2021, modified at 11:20 am, November 23, 2021

In Afghanistan, the Taliban have been imposing new rules on television since Sunday, starting with the ban on broadcasting soap operas or series in which women play. Men must also be covered from the chest to the knees, and programs "opposed to Islamist and Afghan values" are now outlawed.

The Taliban Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice has called on Afghan television stations to no longer broadcast series showing women, under new "religious guidelines" broadcast on Sunday.

"Televisions should avoid showing soap operas and series in which women have played," said a document from the ministry to the attention of the media.

He also asks them to ensure that women journalists wear "the Islamic veil" on screen, without specifying that it is a simple headscarf, already usually worn on Afghan televisions, or a more veil. covering.

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"It is not a question of rules, but of religious directives", specified the spokesman of the ministry, Hakif Mohajir.

Afghan televisions are also called upon to avoid programs "opposed to Islamic and Afghan values" as well as those which insult religion or "show the prophet and his companions".

As for men, they should be covered from the chest to the knees. 

Television banned during their first reign

This is the first time that this ministry has attempted to regulate Afghan television since the Taliban took power in mid-August.

During their first reign, from 1996 to 2001, the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, responsible for ensuring the daily respect of the "Islamic values" of the population, was feared for its fundamentalism and the punishments that he was training.

The Taliban had banned television, movies and all forms of entertainment deemed immoral.

People caught watching television were punished and their equipment destroyed, being in possession of a VCR was punishable by public flogging.

For a while, it was even possible to see televisions hanging from streetlights.

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Overthrown in 2001, the Taliban returned to power last August in a country with a changed media landscape after 20 years of government backed by the West.

During these two decades, the media sector exploded, dozens of private radio stations and television channels appeared.

They offered new opportunities to women, who had neither the right to work nor to study under the Taliban of the 1990s. Today, although showing a more moderate face, the Taliban still do not allowed many women to return to public service work.