KABUL, AFGHANSITAN – The Taliban have burned hundreds of musical instruments in the eastern provinces of Parwan and Laghman, according to local officials.
Officers from the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice set fire to the instruments after collecting them in separate operations in the two provinces.
The head of the ministry in Parwan said around 500 musical instruments had been gathered in the province. He stated that the items included harmoniums, daf drums, tablas and speakers.
Meanwhile, officials from the same ministry in Laghman announced that nearly 100 musical instruments had also been burned.
The Taliban consider playing and listening to music to be forbidden under their interpretation of Islamic law. Since returning to power in 2021, the group has repeatedly confiscated and destroyed musical instruments across the country.
In several instances, Taliban officers have reportedly raided private celebrations and detained musicians.
In a similar incident six months ago, Taliban authorities in Takhar province arrested 13 people for playing music in Bangi district, according to a statement from the provincial police.
A few days later, the group’s morality police also detained a local singer in Herat province. His whereabouts were not disclosed, raising concerns about the treatment of artists under Taliban rule.
Following the Taliban’s takeover, many Afghan musicians and singers have either fled the country or abandoned their profession altogether.
Human rights groups say the measures erase one of Afghanistan’s oldest cultural traditions and reflect the Taliban’s broader effort to impose their strict interpretation of Islamic law.
During their previous rule in the late 1990s, the Taliban also banned music, television and other forms of art, restrictions that have returned with the return of the group to power. Afghanistan is now the only country in the world where music is officially banned.
