Pakistan shuts down ‘hostile’ U.S.-backed radio broadcaster
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Pakistani authorities on Friday closed the offices of a U.S. government-funded radio station whose broadcasts it said were “against the interests of Pakistan,” dealing another blow to relations with the United States.
The Pakistani Interior Ministry said that Radio Mashaal portrayed the country as “a hub of terrorism” and “a failed state” that could not provide security for its people, particularly religious minorities and long-term refugees from Afghanistan.
The ministry said it shut the organization’s Islamabad office on the recommendations of Inter-Services Intelligence, the powerful spy agency of the Pakistani military, which has been the target of intense criticism from President Trump.
The Trump administration this month announced that the U.S. would withhold hundreds of millions of dollars in security assistance due to Pakistan’s inability to crack down on militant groups that cross the border to attack U.S.-led coalition troops in Afghanistan.
Trump has also called out Pakistan repeatedly on Twitter, accusing the U.S. ally, which has accepted $33 billion in U.S. funding to fight terrorism since 2002, of “lies and deceit.”
Pakistani officials said the decision to close Radio Mashaal was not a response to Trump but the result of long-standing concerns about its content. A letter from the Interior Ministry said the station’s broadcasts were “in line with [a] hostile intelligence agency’s agenda” — a likely reference to Afghanistan, whose leaders accuse Pakistan of sponsoring the Taliban and other militant groups battling the Kabul government.
Radio Mashaal, which broadcasts on the radio and online in the Pashto language, airs political and social coverage and is particularly popular in the marginalized northwestern tribal areas along the Afghan border. The region is home to a large population of mainly ethnic Pashtun refugees who have fled decades of conflict in Afghanistan but face severe restrictions from the Pakistani government.
The station is part of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, a nonprofit broadcasting organization funded by Congress and based in Prague, Czech Republic.
On Radio Free Europe’s website, its president, Thomas Kent, said he was “extraordinarily concerned by the closure” and “urgently seeking more information about the Pakistani authorities’ intentions.”
“We have seen these reports and have expressed our concerns to the government of Pakistan,” said a U.S. State Department spokesman. “We are closely monitoring the situation.”