- The Guardian,
- Wednesday November 1 2000
Tonight's news will, once again, lead with the war against the Taliban, the Islamic militia in control of most of Afghanistan, which has banned television, cinema, music, and most other forms of entertainment.
Then, after prayers, the station will show another film from its collection of 1,200 old videos rescued from Kabul four years ago, just before the Taliban seized the capital.
Perhaps it will be a cowboy film or a Hindi movie, all with subtitles in Dari, the Persian dialect widely spoken in this remote area of north-eastern Afghanistan which remains outside Taliban control.
In a country shaped by 20 years of war, the station's most popular film comes as no surprise.
"Rambo, that's the one that everyone really enjoys," said Mohammad Din Kawahani, the station's director, chief correspondent and senior technician. "People like that very much. Star Wars, that's another popular one."
The fact that Badakshan TV can broadcast at all is a feat in itself. The station uses an ancient and immense Iranian transmitter, which barely covers the old quarter of Faizabad. There is just one television camera for filming.
The old videos, which are the mainstay of the three-hour nightly broadcasts, are played on a 16-year-old Sony video machine for which there are no spare parts. The annual £15,000 budget does not allow for much investment.
Faizabad, which is home to the opposition's headquarters, is decidedly a low-tech town. The telephone network, an ageing Ericsson system, has just 600 lines and no numbers - callers must rely on the memory of the operator, Mohammad Raza, to put them through to the right destination.
A US firm is now trying to set up a satellite telephone system to connect Faizabad to the other small towns in opposition areas.
Mr Kawahani said that a quarter of the 100,000 people of Faizabad have a television. But it is unlikely that all the sets still work and, since the town has no electricity, viewers need an expensive generator or car battery to tune in.
"We are using the most primitive type of equipment. It is all completely out of date," said Mr Kawahani.
The station has two large satellite dishes which allow it to receive international channels such as the BBC and CNN, but not to rebroadcast them to the viewers of Faizabad. Only 180 people in the town, among them aid workers and UN staff, have their own satellite receivers.
"We want the people to be informed about what is happening. The Taliban are totally against civilisation. Not only are there no human rights for women and girls, there is no television, no press, nothing."
Originally, Badakshan TV, which was set up in 1986 during the Soviet occupation, simply rebroadcast programmes from the main Kabul station. When mojahedin factions took the capital in 1992 and forced out the pro-Soviet government, the station was closed.
Now run by the former government of Burhanuddin Rabbani, who was overthrown by the Taliban in 1996, Badakshan TV's news programming is plainly opposed to the militia.
"We try to project things fairly to keep the people informed. But it is important to have propaganda against terrorism. It is good propaganda," the station director, Mr Kawahani, said.
Even in this opposition-controlled area of Afghanistan, Islamic laws still govern life. Girls can attend school and women are allowed to work but they must wear a burqa, an all-covering cloak, when they leave home.
Women are not allowed to appear on Badakshan TV, which has no female staff, and films have to be edited to remove amorous scenes.
"We are a little bit conservative in regard to our programmes," the director admitted. "But with this equipment it is a miracle we have any programmes at all."
