01 March 2002

Radio Free Afghanistan Doubles its Broadcasts

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) has doubled the number of broadcast hours for Radio Free Afghanistan.

In an announcement March 1, RFE/RL President Thomas Dine praised the move as a further indication that his organization was committed to "help build a peaceful and democratic Afghanistan through the medium of news and information."

The service, which provides news and special reports to Dari and Pastu speaking audiences in Afghanistan, began in 1985. After an eight-year break in service following the end of the Cold War, Radio Free Afghanistan resumed its broadcasts in 2001 as a result of the U.S. campaign against terrorism.

RFE/RL, which operates the Afghan service, is an international communications service which is funded by the U.S. government.

Listeners can receive the daily Radio Free Afghanistan programs on mediumwave and shortwave frequencies, or on the internet.

Following is a text of the RFE/RL announcement:

RFE/RL Doubles Afghan Broadcasts

(Washington, DC -- 1 March 2002) RFE/RL today doubled the number of hours per day of its Radio Free Afghanistan programs in Dari and Pashtu, from three to six hours. RFE/RL President Thomas A. Dine hailed the increase as "another indication of the commitment of RFE/RL and its sister organizations in U.S. international broadcasting to help build a peaceful and democratic Afghanistan through the medium of news and information."

Radio Free Afghanistan's programming in Dari can now be heard from 1300-1400 UTC (8:00AM-9:00AM EST), with repeats at 1800-1830 UTC (1:00PM-1:30PM EST), 1930-2000 UTC (2:30PM-3:00PM EST) and 0400-0500 UTC (11:00PM-midnight EST), while broadcasts in the Pashtu language will air from 1200-1300 UTC (7:00AM-8:00AM EST) with repeats at 1700-1800 UTC (noon-1:00PM EST) and 0300-0400 UTC (10:00PM-11:00PM EST). The programs are broadcast to Afghanistan via shortwave and on a joint RFE/RL-Voice of America mediumwave broadcast stream administered by the Broadcasting Board of Governors, the U.S. agency that oversees American international broadcasting. Live and on-demand RealAudio of the Dari and Pashto broadcasts to Afghanistan is available on RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan website, located at www.rferl.org/bd/af/.

RFE/RL operated a "Radio Free Afghanistan" service broadcasting in Dari and Pashto from 1985 until 1993, when the services were closed as part of an overall restructuring of RFE/RL operations following the end of the Cold War. Legislation approved by the U.S. Congress in December 2001 appropriated funds to resume the Afghan broadcasts as part of the post-September 11 U.S. war on terrorism.

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a private, international communications service to Eastern Europe and Southeastern Europe, Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia and the Middle East funded by the US Congress through the Broadcasting Board of Governors.