Ayna TV
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Ayna Television (Ayna in Persian means mirror) is a commercial television station, broadcasting from Mazari Sharif, Afghanistan since late 2004. The station is owned by General Abdul Rashid Dostum and apart from broadcasting entertainment and news programs serves as a propaganda tool by Dostum and his Party, Jumbish-e-Melli Islami Afghanistan. Ayna was set up in order to satisfy the entertainment needs of people in northern Afghanistan where Uzbek and Turkmen are widely spoken alongside Afghanistan's two other official languages - Dari and Pashto. To date, it is the only television station in Afghanistan that has programs in four languages, Dari, Pashto, Uzbek and Turkmen.
It can be viewed from all the Northern provinces and the Greater Kabul region.
The signal of Ayna can be received throughout the northern province of Jowzjan as well as in the neighbouring provinces of Balkh, Faryab and Sar-e Pol. The main transmitter is in Sheberghan, the capital of Jowzjan. The station currently broadcasts six hours a day and employs 32 journalists, 25 technical staff and 12 administrators.
Sayed Fahim Zaffar, the person responsible for Ayna Television, said launching the channel cost about 1 million US dollars. The station's location is in a house belonging to General Dostum. The station plans in the future to construct a proper new building to house the television station under international broadcasting standards.[1]
