Radio Killid

About Radio Killid

Radio Killid (رادیو کلید) is a major independent Afghan radio network broadcasting in Dari and Pashto. Headquartered in Kabul at House #442, Street #6, Chardehi Watt, it operates stations in six more cities — Mazar-i-Sharif, Kandahar, Jalalabad, Ghazni, Khost and Herat — making it one of the country's most extensive private radio networks. Owned by The Killid Group, described as a public media project of the Development and Humanitarian Services for Afghanistan (DHSA), it remains active in 2026 with a news operation updating through the day.

About Radio Killid

Radio Killid is the broadcast arm of The Killid Group (TKG), an Afghan media organization whose name — "Killid" means "key" in Dari — has been part of the country's media landscape since 2002. The group describes itself, in the footer of its own website, as "a public media project of DHSA," positioning its work as public-interest journalism rather than commercial entertainment or state messaging. That positioning shapes the network's output: news, current affairs and community programming with an emphasis on informing listeners rather than merely entertaining them.

The network's defining feature is its geography. While many Afghan radio stations are single-city operations, Radio Killid is a genuine multi-city network: Kabul plus Mazar-i-Sharif in the north, Kandahar in the south, Jalalabad in the east, Ghazni and Khost in the southeast, and Herat in the west. That footprint covers Afghanistan's major regions and its principal cities outside the capital — a reach that few private broadcasters can match, and one that gives the network a credible claim to national coverage.

Radio Killid's programming blends national news with the community-service model of public radio. Its output covers Afghan domestic news — politics, the economy, social issues — alongside practical programming on health, education and daily life. The Killid name carries a print heritage as well: the group grew out of a media project that included print publishing, and the radio network inherits that journalistic tradition. It is an independent operation — neither state-owned nor a commercial music station — occupying the public-media space in the Afghan market.

The group's leadership is part of its identity. Najiba Ayubi serves as CEO of The Killid Group, one of the prominent women media executives in Afghanistan — a notable fact in a sector where senior leadership has historically been male-dominated, and especially significant given the pressures on women's professional life since 2021.

History

The Killid Group was launched in 2002, in the first wave of the post-2001 media opening. Like many Afghan media institutions of that era, it began as a project supported by the international community's investment in Afghan civil society — DHSA, the Development and Humanitarian Services for Afghanistan, provided the institutional home — with the aim of building independent, public-interest media in a country emerging from decades of war and censorship.

Radio Killid grew out of that project as its broadcast voice. Through the 2000s and 2010s, the network expanded city by city, building the multi-station footprint that defines it today. Each new station — Mazar-i-Sharif, Kandahar, Jalalabad, Ghazni, Khost, Herat — extended the network's reach into a new region, and the Kabul headquarters at Chardehi Watt became the production center for national programming fed out to the network.

Through those years the network established its editorial character: serious, news-driven, community-oriented. While Kabul's commercial FM stations competed on music and entertainment, Radio Killid built its audience on information — news bulletins, talk programming, health and education content, and coverage of the issues affecting ordinary Afghans. Its association with DHSA's development mission reinforced that public-service orientation.

The 2021 political upheaval tested the network like every other Afghan media outlet. As an independent broadcaster operating inside the country, Radio Killid had to navigate the new authorities' media environment while maintaining its journalism. Unlike outlets that closed or fled, the network continued operating from its Kabul headquarters — a decision that preserved its infrastructure, its staff and its audience, at the cost of working within constraints that did not exist before.

By 2026 the network's continued operation was verifiable in real time. The TKG website, tkg.af, was publishing news updated by the hour — stories timestamped "13 hours ago," "14 hours ago," "9 hours ago" on the day of verification — covering Afghan domestic news, regional developments and international stories. Satellite listings updated on 9 October 2026 carried "Radio Killid Kabul" on the Al Yah 1 satellite, confirming the broadcast signal alongside the web operation. A media project launched in 2002 was still publishing, still broadcasting, nearly a quarter-century on.

Programming

Radio Killid's programming is news-led. The network's newsroom produces regular bulletins and reports on Afghan domestic developments — politics, the economy, social issues — in the wire-service style visible on its website: concise, factual, updated through the day. The tkg.af homepage on the verification date showed the rhythm of a working news operation, with fresh items on trade, diplomacy, migration and regional affairs appearing within hours of each other.

Beyond the news cycle, the network carries the community and service programming that defines its public-media character. Health is a recurring theme — the homepage has carried features on public-health issues affecting Afghan families — alongside education, environmental concerns such as climate change and drought displacement, and sports coverage including Afghan football and cricket. This is programming aimed at the practical concerns of listeners' lives, not just the headlines.

The network structure allows for a mix of national and local content. The Kabul headquarters produces national news and flagship programming, while the stations in Mazar-i-Sharif, Kandahar, Jalalabad, Ghazni, Khost and Herat serve their regional audiences — a model that gives listeners both the national picture and coverage rooted in their own cities and provinces.

Talk and magazine programming rounds out the schedule, in the tradition of public radio: discussions of current affairs, interviews, and longer-form features. The network's output is in Dari and Pashto, the two national languages, ensuring it can serve audiences across its multi-region footprint.

Languages and platforms

Radio Killid broadcasts in Dari and Pashto. The website, tkg.af, publishes primarily in Dari (Persian), with the radio network serving both language communities across its stations. The bilingual output is a practical necessity for a network spanning the country's regions: Dari dominates in the north, west and center, Pashto in the south and east, and a national network must speak both.

The network's platforms span terrestrial, satellite and online. FM stations in seven cities provide the terrestrial backbone; the Al Yah 1 satellite listing for "Radio Killid Kabul," updated in October 2026, confirms satellite distribution; and tkg.af carries the group's news output online, updated hourly. That three-layer distribution — FM for local listeners, satellite for national reach, web for the connected and the diaspora — is what makes the network genuinely national.

The website functions as both a news portal and the network's institutional face: news content up front, the "public media project of DHSA" identification in the footer, and contact information for the Kabul headquarters. It is a working newsroom's site, maintained in real time.

Location, network and operating status

Radio Killid is headquartered in Kabul, Afghanistan, at House #442, Street #6, Chardehi Watt. Its network extends to six more cities: Mazar-i-Sharif, Kandahar, Jalalabad, Ghazni, Khost and Herat — covering the north, south, east, west and southeast of the country alongside the capital.

The network is owned by The Killid Group, described as a public media project of DHSA (Development and Humanitarian Services for Afghanistan), with Najiba Ayubi as CEO. It is an independent Afghan media organization: not state-owned, not a commercial music network, but a public-interest broadcaster.

As of October 2026, Radio Killid was verified as active on all its platforms: the tkg.af news site was updating hourly, the satellite listing was current to 9 October 2026, and the multi-city FM network was presented as operational. It continues to broadcast from inside Afghanistan as one of the country's leading independent radio networks.

Official website and contact

The official website is https://tkg.af/, the home of The Killid Group's news output and the network's institutional presence. The published contact for the Kabul headquarters is +93 20 250 0717.

WorldNM is an independent directory and does not own, operate or represent Radio Killid. For programming, advertising or other inquiries, please use the network's own channels.

Sources and last verified

This profile was verified on 13 October 2026 against tkg.af, checked live: the homepage carried Dari-language news items updated within hours, and the footer identified the operation as "TKG: A public media project of DHSA." The Kabul headquarters address, six-city network, Dari and Pashto languages, group founding in 2002, CEO Najiba Ayubi and the +93 20 250 0717 contact are corroborated by secondary sources; the Al Yah 1 satellite listing for "Radio Killid Kabul" was updated 9 October 2026. Facts reflect what was publicly verifiable on the verification date.