The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) has closed 12 media outlets – both public and private – in seven provinces this year, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has said.

Eleven television stations and one radio station have been forced to completely cease their activities, while three radio stations were closed temporarily before they were allowed to resume operations on the condition that they agreed to stop broadcasting music, RSF said in a statement.

"The ideological hardening of the Taliban (IEA) in recent months has accelerated repression and increased threats against media outlets in Afghanistan. The proliferation of bans on images of living beings in certain provinces, in particular, has led to a series of closures of television stations,” said Célia Mercier, head of RSF's South Asia Desk.

She called for the unconditional reopening of all silenced media outlets, so they can continue their mission of informing the people in complete freedom.

The Islamic Emirate says it has shut media outlets serving banned political parties, and some outlets have stopped operating due to economic problems.

Earlier, Political Deputy Foreign Minister Sher Mohammad Abbas Stanikzai also said that the Islamic Emirate should allow media to operate freely.

Fasihuddin Fitrat, the Chief of the Army Staff of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, said that studying medicine is necessary as people need both male and female doctors.

Fitrat said this in a conference at the Armed Forces Academy of Medical Sciences in Kabul.

The statement comes amid reports that the leader of the Islamic Emirate has decided to close medical institutes to girls across the country.

The Ministry of Transport and Aviation announced on Thursday that it suspended two transportation companies following deadly traffic accidents on Kabul-Kandahar highway.

Recently, two traffic accidents on the highway in Ghazni province left more than 50 people dead and scores injured.

The Ministry of Transport and Aviation said in a statement that the companies involved have been suspended and a joint technical team has been dispatched to the scene to investigate.