Taliban ban women from appearing in TV dramas

PBC News: The Taliban have banned women from appearing in television dramas under new rules imposed by the government, according to a BBC report.

They also made headscarves mandatory on the screen for female journalists and presenters but the guidelines do not give any details about the type of garment they had to use.

Reporters who have looked through the new rules say that a number of them are vague and subject to interpretation.

The Taliban seized power in the country in mid-August almost immediately following the departure of US forces from the country.

Since then, they have gradually begun imposing harsh restrictions.

The Taliban rules have opened up a new avenue for moral policing after they replaced the women’s ministry in mid-September and opened another for the “Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.”

Women were barred from education and the workplaces under Taliban rule in the 1990s.

The latest set of Taliban guidelines, which have been issued to Afghan television channels, features eight new rules, according to the BBC.

They include the banning of films considered against the principles of Sharia, or Islamic, law and Afghan values, while footage of men exposing intimate parts of the body is prohibited.

Comedy and entertainment shows that insult religion or may be considered offensive to Afghans are also forbidden.

The Taliban have insisted that foreign films promoting foreign cultural values should not be broadcast.

Afghan television channels mostly show foreign dramas led by female characters.

A member of an organisation that represents journalists in Afghanistan, Hujjatullah Mujaddedi, told the BBC that the announcement of new restrictions was unexpected.

He said some of the rules were not practical and that if implemented, broadcasters may be forced to close.

The Taliban’s decision to reopen high-schools, but only for boys, makes Afghanistan the only country in the world to bar half its population from getting an education.

The mayor of the capital city Kabul also told female municipal employees to stay home unless their jobs could not be done by a man, the BBC said.

The Taliban claim that their restrictions on women working and girls studying are “temporary” and only in place to ensure all workplaces and learning environments are “safe” for them.