Dozens of radio stations in Taliban-led Afghanistan have been shut down due to the economic hardship and media censorship since the militia government took over power in the wake of United States military withdrawal nearly two years ago.

As per VOA, the president of the Afghan Independent Journalists Union (AIJU), Hujatullah Mujadidi, said 345 radio stations were in operation prior to the U.S. military withdrawal in August 2021, but the figure has now dropped to 228 since the Taliban regime returned to power.

With 117 stations ceasing to exist, it has also affected the rate of people left jobless as a result of the brutal rule; an estimated 5,000 people, with 25% of them women, were working in the industry before the Taliban takeover.

But in the wake of the takeover, about 2,000 people have lost their jobs with half of them being women.

Only a small fraction f people remaining in the sector are women due to the regime rules that has shown little or no respect for rights of women in almost all sectors in the country.

The high rate in which radio stations cease broadcasting is connected to the sanctions and suspension of financial aids imposed on Afghanistan by most Western countries since the Taliban took over and the act has simply crippled the almost all economy structures of the country including the media.

Also, the censorship placed on media houses and journalists has played its part in the epidemic affecting the Afghanistan media sector. The regime has placed ban on informations that view as anti-Taliban while erring journalists have faced imprisonment and even worse.

According to a report by United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan in November last year, more than 200 journalists have suffered “arbitrary arrest, ill-treatment, threats, and intimidation,” since the regime seized power in the country.