KABUL: Afghanistan on Friday banned all Pakistani newspapers from entering the country in an attempt to block the Taliban from influencing public opinion via the press, the Associated Press reported.
The order was issued by the ministry of interior, because Pakistani newspapers publish statements of the Taliban, becoming a conduit for their propaganda.
”The news is not based in reality and it is creating concerns for our countrymen in the eastern provinces of Afghanistan,” the ministry said in a statement. ”Also, the newspapers are a propaganda resource of the Taliban spokespersons.”
The ministry ordered blocking entry of the papers at the Torkham border crossing. They further directed border police to gather up Pakistani newspapers in the three eastern provinces of Nangarhar, Kunar and Nuristan.
COMMENTS (14)
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Only if we would have banned kalashnikov and Heroine 20 years ago from Afganishtan, Pakistan would have been a better place. Good decision by Afgan government. Wake up Pakistan. That is what think of us.
Wow! what a joke, does Afghanistan even have any newspapers of their own!?
Afghan refugees in Pakistan are in Pashtun territorires mostly and they are industrious and successful. Afghanistan is the only country that cast the vote against Pak admission to UN in 1947 because they had a premonition that it was going to be all downhill from here on in.
The mere fact that Mr. Afghanistan and Mr. Khan of Jandul have commented here means that they read this newspaper, Express Tribune, a Pakistani one. They took pains to log into this site and read the "Pakistani" news items? While they support banning of Pakistani newspapers in their country, they themselves are reading Pakistani newspapers on the web and commenting too. Should we call it "Double Standards"? I leave it to other readers to decide.
Afghanistan & Khan of Jandul
what you are saying is not true. Pakistani media only terms their own soldier as martyr not the Taliban or others. i don't know if they publish different version for Afghanistan. but i have never seen anything like you mentioned.
lol afghanis. Please ban entire Pakistan and stop giving your citizens permission to travel across.
That would be blessing for us
When then Taliban are killed in Afghanistan, Pakistani media term them as martyers, freedom fighters, but when the same Taliban are killed in Pakistan they are labelled as terrorists and the Pakistan Army as martyers. Moreover, most of the Pakistan Urdo and English media is a propaganda platform for extremist organizations and it job is mainly to hide facts and mislead public opinion. All of the enlightened readers know that how the Pakistani media is a culprit in the rising tide of extremism and intolerance in that country.
We forget about freedom of speech here too?
Eventhough I am not happy with this decision, there is a point which pakistani newspaper deliberately use that. Forexample, Pakistani newspapers term its killed military a MARTYR while call our military KILLED. Pakistanis dont like their taliban and term them KILLED when they get killed ,but fancy our taliban and call them MARTYR. I think there is no difference between both governments, both armys' and both taliban then why there is double standard.
@tung: They're returning back to the what they were like pre 1979, a puppet of India. But then again, they've always had an infactuation with India. If it were for them, they've remove Pakistan from the map and have a direct access to Indians. They sure deserve each other.
Most of the newspaper published in PAK are in Urdu.. how many afghans can read urdu??? now this is good joke :)
Yet afraid of Taliban? I thought US would have changed minds in 11 years...