The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) distributed newsletters expressing their concerns and calling on the de facto regime to reverse this decision…reports Asian Lite News
Amid the recently surfaced reports of restriction of Facebook in Afghanistan, the ‘Committee to Protect Journalists’ based in the United States called on the Taliban government to reverse this decision, according to Khaama Press.
On Tuesday, in response to reports of Afghanistan’s ban on Facebook, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) distributed newsletters expressing their concerns and calling on the de facto regime to reverse this decision.
According to the agency, Afghanistan’s Facebook ban creates barriers to the free movement of information.
The Committee to Protect Journalists’ response follows earlier announcement made to TOLONews by Najibullah Haqqani, the acting minister for Telecommunications and Information Technology, that the ministry’s strategy to restrict or block Facebook in Afghanistan, reported Khaama Press.
Haqqani justified the restriction, saying that the purpose of this policy was to stop young people from wasting their time and money and to stop the spread of ‘immoral’ ideas.
Facebook is still more popular among Afghan citizens than other social networks. However it is unclear how many of them use it at the moment.
The game PUBG, as well as video sharing social networking service, TikTok were previously banned by the Taliban’s Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology.
UN ‘special representative’
Amid Taliban’s opposition to the move, the United Nations Secretary-General’s spokesperson, Stephane Dujarric, said that the process of appointing a special representative for Afghanistan is underway, according to Khaama Press.
In response to questions from journalists regarding when the UN will appoint a special envoy for Afghanistan, Dujarric stated on Monday at a press briefing that information will be provided if progress is made in this regard.
He said there is no set date for the UN special envoy for Afghanistan to be appointed.
Notably, the nomination of a special envoy has been the subject of months of debate inside the UN.
The Taliban regime opposes the appointment of a new special representative for Afghanistan and believes that with the presence of UNAMA, this is an unnecessary move, reported Khaama Press.
The Taliban regime is supported by a number of nations that are against the nomination of a new UN special representative for Afghanistan, including Russia and Iran.
Efforts failed to produce results during the second Doha summit which took place in Qatar in February this year.
It was attended by special envoys of various nations and was followed by a UN Security Council meeting where the appointment of a special representative for Afghanistan was a significant item on their agenda. (ANI)
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