Afghan city gets public TV for first time in 12 years

12 Apr, 2004

Public television has re-started broadcasting in the south-eastern Afghan city of Gardez, some 12 years after the last programme aired on the regional station, an official said Sunday.
"We have provincial TV now after a more than a decade," Paktia province's information and culture director Din Mohammed Darwaish told AFP.
Gardez TV began broadcasting on Thursday after being shut down and looted 12 years ago following a collapse of government.
The reborn channel transmits within a 12 kilometre radius for three hours daily, with five hours on Thursday nights so that a feature film can be shown.
Paktia provincial capital Gardez is the main city in south-eastern Afghanistan, believed to be a stronghold of Taleban, which banned television during its hard-line rule ending in 2001, and their al Qaeda allies.
But with no major power source in the city, some 110 kilometre's (68 miles) south-east of Kabul, only those who own generators will be able to watch the new broadcasts. The station itself desperately needs a new generator to continue to operate.
"I am happy we have TV now but it is useless because we don't have power so we cannot watch," said 16-year-old schoolboy Mohammed Sami.

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