By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
May 25, 2026

Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities have closed down three local radio stations in the latest move in an ongoing crackdown that has seen the country’s media landscape decimated since the militant group seized power for a second time in 2021.

The radio stations — Tahsin al-Quran, Sanga, and Zama Ziwer — were operating in Afghanistan’s southern Kandahar province, the Taliban’s birthplace and stronghold.

In a statement on May 24, the Taliban’s Department of Information and Culture accused the radio stations of failure to pay their taxes, not being licensed, and of substandard broadcasting.

The same statement also urged other radio stations to align their broadcast with “Islamic principles and ethics.”

The latest move drew immediate criticism from media advocacy and rights groups.

“Pressure on the media has increased, especially on radio stations,” Hamed Obaidi, head of the Afghanistan Media Support Organization, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi.

Obaidi added that the reasons given for closing the stations were merely a pretext to muzzle public opinion.

Last week, when another local station, Radio Bamyan, was shut down for not renewing its license, a source at the radio told Radio Azadi that the Taliban had actually prevented it from doing so.

Taliban-run Afghanistan ranks 175th in the latest edition of the World Press Freedom Index, released by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) last month. Only Saudi Arabia, Iran, China, North Korea, and Eritrea were rated lower.

RSF said 43 percent of media outlets in Afghanistan had been closed since 2021, documenting the dismantling of independent media with women journalists being disproportionately targeted.

Since August 2021, more than 165 media professionals have been arrested — including 25 in 2025 — and the media watchdog says “journalism has been choked by relentless censorship.”

The 2025 annual report by the Afghanistan Journalists Center (AFJC), released in December, also noted increased censorship and repression.

“Examples include forced confessions from imprisoned journalists, restrictions on the participation of female journalists in press conferences held by senior officials, and the censorship of women’s voices during live news coverage,” it said.

The AFJC report also documented the closure of at least 20 television stations in the country since 2021. The group also condemned the closure of the three Kandahar-based radio stations.

Taliban regulations have also imposed sweeping censorship systems, banned entertainment programming and films, and placed restrictions on women’s participation in media.

Copyright (c) 2026. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.

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