New era of press freedom

Afghanistan's Interim Authority has signed a new order, which it is hoped will lead to a liberal independent media - free to cricitcise, warn and inform, international media reported on Tuesday. A BBC report said the new law, which was signed on Saturday by chairman of the authority, Hamid Karzai, allows the country's press to be free and criticise the government. Such a law would have been unthinkable under the Taliban, who had imposed a strict interpretation of Islamic Shariah law on Afghanistan. Things were no better during the reign of the mujahideen warlords before the hardline Islamic movement came to power in 1996. There was also no press freedom during the days of the Soviet occupation. "People can have their newspapers, people can have their radios and they can write things, they can criticise us as much as they want," Karzai was quoted as saying by the BBC.