WION exclusive- Life under Taliban: Women-run studio forced to shut down in Kabul

Taliban is taking women off air in Afghanistan as Kabul's women-run Baano Radio and TV shuts down in Kabul.

The Banno TV in Afghanistan, which was a women-led initiative, is one of the many networks that have been forced to shut down following the Taliban takeover. Zahra Nabi, the owner of Banno TV, speaks exclusively to WION before the shutter goes down on her media network. She tells us that following the takeover, it had become increasingly difficult for her to operate.

“The first time I attended the press conference (of Taliban, by spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid, after the takeover), I asked (them), ‘can you tell us about the future of women?’ but I wasn’t given any clear answer. He said, ‘You have to wait.’ The next time, I asked the same question: ‘How about the women, you know?’ He again said, ‘You have to wait.’ The third time I wanted to ask him the same question but he didn’t allow me to ask but I asked him anyway. Still, he said, ‘you have to wait’,” said Nabi.

The media professional, who used butterflies as metaphor for freedom and hope in her studio, said her some of her 550, all-women crew members are planning on fleeing the country.

“We were a small TV station but had about 550 crew members and all of them were women. It was led by women, for women,” she tells us, proudly. “The first thing is that women are not allowed to work even under the Ministry of Women (Affairs). Women are not allowed to work as teachers and little girls are not allowed to go to schools. So, of course, as for media, women are not allowed to work in the media field. Our workers now have no jobs and no future. Last time, they waited for five years (to get back to work) and this time, they don’t want to wait and decided to leave the country.” reveals Nabi.

Contrary to what the Taliban had initially claimed, women are now being forced to give up on their career.

Right before shutting her studio down, Nabi takes WION on a tour, sharing, “This is the reception and there you have a artwork of a lady blowing butterflies out of her mouth. It symbolizes the future (of women in Afghanistan) and the hope (that) we have. I have to take it off but I will keep it here till the last day and take it off right before leaving. Here’s our main studio and it was here that we had placed the chroma key and around here we had our political show and in that corner we had family shows and ladies show.”

Women from different sections of society have complained and confirmed that they have been barred from working. Zahra Nabi’s studio going off air seems to be a testament to the plight of women in war-torn Afghanistan.

Watch WION's interaction with Zahra Nabi here: