Afghanistan: Taliban Set To Ban Music In Public
Published
The Taliban has said it is planning to ban music being played in public.
The announcement comes after a spokesperson for the militant group reminded the public that many forms of music are forbidden by Islam.
However, despite considering music un-Islamic, the Taliban has stated that it will ‘persuade persuade people not to do such things, instead of pressuring them’.
The ban on the public playing of music acts as a return to one of the strict rules of the Taliban’s emirate in the 1990s. The previous emirate saw only religious chants allowed, with almost all other forms of music banned due to being considered a distraction that could encourage immoral thoughts.
Chief spokesperson for the Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahid, announced the new rule in an interview with The New York Times on Wednesday, August 25. In the interview, despite confirming the return to a ban on music, Mujahid tried to reassure the public that the militant group is seeking to ‘build the future, and forget what happened in the past’.
In an interview the day before, Mujahid also warned Afghan women to stay at home until some of the militant fighters had been trained in ‘how to respect them’, The New York Times reports.
Fears for women and girls have subsequently been rising under the Taliban’s new regime. While it has initially appeared more progressive, with spokesperson Suhail Shaheen saying there is nothing to be ‘worried or scared’ about, there have been reports of violence against women.
On August 18, a woman was reportedly shot and killed by the militant group for not wearing a burqa. Furthermore, there have been reports that Afghans have been targeted and attacked due to wearing ‘western’ clothing. On August 24, it emerged that the Taliban was preventing Afghans from going to the airport, which has been a scene of chaos due to thousands of people flocking to Kabul in a desperate bid to escape the country.
Boris Johnson has since suggeted a cash offer to the Islamic group, providing they follow a number of conditions, in a bid to secure ‘safe passage’ for those who want to leave the country even after the August 31 deadline set by Biden. However, reports have since warned that there is a ‘very high risk of a terror attack’ against evacuations in Afghanistan.
The ban on music, despite Mujahid’s claims that people will not be ‘pressured’ to obey it, has left Afghans wondering what other rules from the Taliban’s 1990 emirate will be reinstated.
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Topics: News, Afghanistan, Ban, Music, rules, Taliban
