1:47pm UK, Tuesday January 21, 2003

The Taliban regime which banned television, music and cinema may be gone, but for the people of Afghanistan there is a new telly ban in place.

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Outrage at half-naked singers

The coalition government hasbanned cable television - saying it has been broadcasting un-Islamic programmes featuring "half-naked" singers.

Western satellite music programmes which often feature singers such as Christina Aguilera were deemed too raunchy by government chiefs.

The president of the Supreme court ordered cable television services in Kabul to be closed down after dozens of complaints.

Morality

"People who filed complaints to the Supreme Court said they were airing half-naked singers and obscene scenes from movies," chief justice Mawlavi Fazl Hadi Shinwari said.

"Because of this, I asked the police to stop their activities. What they aired clearly was contrary to Islam and against morality and we had to issue the order," he added.

In capital Kabul, five cable firms had sprang up after the radical Islamic Taliban regime was overthrown by the US and its allies in late 2001 and replaced by a coalition.

The firms' owners said their broadcasts were shut down by police on Monday.

The firms mostly aired Western and Indian music and movie channels which proved hugely popular in Afghanistan after five years of Islamic puritanism imposed by the Taliban.

Action

Under the Taliban, television was completely banned, along with music and cinema.

The government move follows similar action in the eastern city of Jalalabad.