Bitter Afghans turn off Western stations

DEUTSCHE PRESSE AGENTUR

ISLAMABAD, OCTOBER 18: BRITISH and American radio stations are losing their listeners in Afghanistan to broadcasts from Iran, Pakistan and Iraq, according to the private Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) agency.

AIP reported on Thursday that Afghan audiences were unhappy with BBC and Voice of America (VoA) for their alleged attempts ‘‘to cover up the reality’’ in Afghanistan.

‘‘BBC and VoA have been trying to hide the damage and casualties inflicted on the civilians by the US-British attacks on Afghanistan,’’ Obaidullah, a Kabul resident told the Pakistan-based agency.

Most of the Afghan listeners consider BBC and VoA to be partisan and sometimes ‘‘downright lying’’ in their reports on current events, according to Qari Mohammad Tahir, an Afghan trader in the Pakistani border city of Peshawar. ‘‘In the past two weeks the two channels have lost almost 30 per cent of their audience in Afghanistan,’’ Tahir said.

A university teacher in the eastern Afghanistan city of Jalalabad told AIP that some Afghans still listen to BBC and VoA but do not believe them.

‘‘We were witness to civilians being killed (in the US bombing of the city) but the two radis were not reporting it. A whole village was wiped out but they cast doubt on the heavy loss of lives. How can our people believe them then?’’ professor Masood Nekbakht told the agency.

Nekbakht said more and more Afghans were turning to radio broadcasts from Iran, Pakistan and those who understand Arabic listen to broadcasts from Iraq.