Faizabad TV, the only television station in Afghanistan, a nation of 16 million people, begins another 2-hour daily transmission to a potential audience of less than 60,000. There are 5,000 TV sets in Faizabad, and everyone in the city watches their programmes, assert the station's staff. But few people can afford to turn on their sets. The tiny bit of electricity produced by the Islamic State of Afghanistan is weak and irregular and only reaches some inhabitants of the old city. Most simply can't afford them.
People are more concerned about getting food on the table every day.
Twilight has fallen. A few guards stare at us as we walk up the last few metres to the building. Despite the many pairs of shoes outside the entrance, we're told we don't have to bother removing ours, as Afghan custom demands. As we enter, we're enveloped by a musty, pungent smell. We walk down a corridor, illuminated only by a single, flickering neon lamp.