Afghanistan International: As the world marks World Television Day on, the Taliban’s leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, continues efforts to curb visual media in Afghanistan. Television broadcasting in Afghanistan began in 1978 with the establishment of National Radio and Television under the Soviet-backed government, an institution now fully controlled by the Taliban. Over the past four years, the Taliban, acting on Akhundzada’s orders, have sought to restrict or eliminate visual media. The group’s “Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice” law bans the broadcast of images of living beings. Ratified by Akhundzada in July last year, the law imposes sweeping media restrictions and violates numerous civil rights, particularly those of women. This June, a member of the Taliban’s Qatar office told Afghanistan International that Akhundzada had “never listened to the radio in his life, never watched television, and never engaged with modern digital media.” Other Taliban sources have said he occasionally listens to the radio but only rarely. Click here to read more (external link).