ISLAMABAD/KABUL: The Taliban have issued an official order that women journalists in all Afghan media outlets must cover their faces while appearing on television, Kabul-based journalists and producers told dpa on Thursday.
Afghan media giant TOLOnews posted the news about the new ruling on its official Twitter account.
The Taliban authorities have informed all television stations that the new order is final “and not up for discussion,” the Afghan media outlet said.
Images of women anchors and presenters circulated on social media on Thursday, with masks covering their faces.
One television producer said the order meant “only the eyes of the female presenters must be visible.”
“We have been told that all female employees on visual media must wear masks to hide their faces. Today was the last ultimatum. Some media applied the ruling today while others must do so starting tomorrow,” another producer said.
The Taliban have not made a public announcement about the new media regulation.
RESISTANCE COUNCIL
Meanwhile, former Afghan warlords and exiled politicians announced the creation of a High Council of National Resistance against the Taliban on Thursday, calling on the hardliners to form a more inclusive government or risk civil war.
Since the Taliban surged back to power on the heels of a hasty withdrawal of US troops last year, there have been only limited and sporadic attempts to resist their rule.
But on Tuesday 40 political figures met in Ankara by invitation of former Afghan vice-president and warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum, who found refuge in Turkey after Kabul fell in August.
Participants said their council should pave the way for the “liberation” of Afghanistan, the group said in a statement shared with AFP on Thursday.
“We demand the Taliban end their destruction and set the table for talks to find solutions to the current problems of Afghanistan,” they said.
The hardliners “should learn from the experiences of history that no group can have a stable government through acts of force and pressure”, the council added.
Founding members of the council include former Balkh province governor Atta Mohammad Noor, leader of the Hazara community Mohammad Mohaqiq, and Ahmad Wali Massoud of the National Resistance Front (NRF), the main group currently waging an armed insurgency against the government.
Long-time Taliban opponent and warlord Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf is also a signatory.
UN SLAMS TALIBAN
The United Nations on Thursday slammed the Taliban’s closure of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), calling it a “deeply retrograde step”.
Since the Taliban seized power last August the hardliners have closed several bodies that protected the freedoms of Afghans, including the electoral commission and the ministry for women’s affairs. — dpa/afp
Exiled Afghan warlords form resistance council to fight Taliban
UN slams Taliban closure of Afghan human rights body
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