Taliban’s Fight Against Freedom of Expression: Taliban Ban the Publication of Images of Living Beings in Balkh

Photo: amutv

In a controversial and restrictive move, the Taliban’s head of court in Balkh province has issued a decree banning the publication of images of living beings, including humans and animals, in the media; a decision that has sparked a wave of concern and anger among journalists, media organizations, and freedom of expression activists.

This new order is a continuation of the Taliban’s series of strict measures against media freedom, art, and imagery in Afghanistan; a group that since its return to power in August 2021 has step by step tightened the space for media and cultural activists.

Journalists in the province consider the Taliban’s decree the end of media activity. A number of local journalists told Zan News that such a decision not only goes against the norms of journalism but is also interpreted as “the complete silencing of the people’s voice” and “the erasure of the human face from daily reality.”

One of the journalists in Balkh, who did not want to be named, said: “When you erase the faces of people, it is as if you have erased the people themselves. How can we narrate war, poverty, or even joy without images?”

The ban on publishing images of “living beings” covers a wide range of content; from news photographs and journalistic portraits to television documentaries, visual reports of markets, agriculture, schools, and even religious programs. However, it is still unclear whether this order also applies to archival images and imported content from global media.

Meanwhile, local media had already been under increasing pressure to remove music, censor women’s faces, and practice self-censorship in their news content.

The Taliban, relying on their particular and Salafi-oriented interpretation of Islamic Sharia, have repeatedly taken a stance against visual arts and broadcast media; but critics say that what is enforced under the name of “Sharia” is less rooted in religion and more a tool for imposing domination, suppressing diversity, and erasing rival narratives.

Nevertheless, international organizations supporting journalists, human rights institutions, and even some religious scholars have repeatedly described this measure as another step toward the “total Talibanization” of society.

A media expert in Kabul told Zan News: “The Taliban are gradually cleansing Afghanistan’s visual identity; and this in an era when image is the first language of global communication.”

The End of Faces, the Beginning of Darkness

The Taliban’s new decision to ban images of living beings in the media of Balkh is a warning symbol of the path this group has taken; a path that instead of rebuilding the country leads to a return to darkness, the erasure of people, and the silence of the media.

Afghanistan is once again on the brink of silence; this time, not only through silencing the voices of journalists, but through erasing the faces of the people.