Afghanistan TV Networks Ordered Off Air

Afghanistan's TV networks are in trouble over pop videos, Bollywood movies and even Charlton Heston's "The Ten Commandments." According to the Associated Press, an appeal from Afghanistan's top Islamic judge this week prompted the Cabinet to order television networks temporarily off the air.

Saad Mohseni, director of Tolo TV, predicted more restrictions would follow:

He accused officials of trying to silence increasingly sophisticated media coverage of Afghan politics.

"Ministers will come and go. But the free media should be here to stay to serve the nation and its public," he said. "This is a time for people to take a stand."

This was one of my concerns when I posted a year ago that Afghan constitution's balancing of the hard-liners' calls for institutionalized Islamic law against the more secular leanings of its urban people are, unfortunately, weighted towards institutionalized Islamic law.