A Christian TV channel has been launched for believers in Afghanistan despite authoritarian Islamic Taliban rule restricting Christianity.

Mozhda TV is the first Christian TV channel and began broadcasting on Saturday 24 October, in a country where Christian materials have been banned and were destroyed after the Taliban seized power in 2021. 

The channel airs programming in Dari and Pashto, with plans to add Uzbek, Turkmen, Baluchi and Hazaragi to their broadcasting. 

The channel is producing shows for women, including a series women can watch at home in private that could help them continue their studies.

Mazoud Ghorbani, executive director of Mozhda TV, addressed the audience through a sermon in the first minutes of the broadcast. 

"We don’t know who is watching our program for the first time right now, perhaps even the Taliban”, Ghorbani said. “We need to pray for them. Jesus Christ is the good shepherd of Afghanistan”.

He preached from Mark 6:34 and asked the audience what they thought Jesus would see looking at Afghanistan. 

Shortly after imposing Sharia law in September 2021, the Taliban ordered high schools to reopen only for boys and male teachers, as girls over the age of 12 lost the right to continue their education. 

In December 2022, women were also prohibited from attending university. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) estimates that 2.4million Afghan girls have been barred from secondary education. 

Ghorbani spoke on why they chose satellite television to spread the Gospel, with series being recorded for air since March. 

Ghorbani explained: “Almost everyone has a television and a satellite dish at home. The Taliban control the country, but they cannot control the satellites.

“We want to tell them that the Lord loves them and that ‘this is not the end; hold on to hope”.