KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Taliban’s Minister of Information and Culture urged poets at a major cultural festival in Kandahar to produce works praising the group’s Islamic Emirate system and its supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada, sources present at the event said.
Sher Ahmad Haqqani delivered the remarks on Thursday evening during the annual Traditional Anar Gul (Pomegranate Blossom) Poetry Festival in Kandahar city, attended by senior Taliban authorities and poets from several provinces.
According to the sources, Haqqani called on poets to use their work to encourage public obedience to Akhundzada and to explain the Taliban leader’s decrees through poetry so the wider population could more easily understand them.
The sources said most poems performed at the gathering focused on praising the Taliban leadership and its governing system. They added that organizers formed a special committee to review and approve all material before it was presented at the event.
The Anar Gul Poetry Festival is a traditional cultural gathering that, in recent years, has been held with the participation of senior Taliban figures and poets aligned with the group from different provinces. Earlier this week, the Taliban also organized a similar event, the “Narcissus Blossom Poetry Festival,” in eastern Nangarhar province.
Since returning to power in August 2021, the Taliban have introduced wide-ranging restrictions on media outlets, artistic expression, and public gatherings. Journalists, writers, poets, and activists critical of the authorities have faced detention, intimidation, or exile, while those remaining in the country operate under strict censorship.
Last year, the Taliban approved a 13-article “Poetry Gathering Regulation Law” governing cultural events. The law prohibits criticism of the group’s leadership, decrees, and decisions at official poetry events, and also bans poetry that promotes relationships between boys and girls or romantic content described by the authorities as inappropriate.
Under the rules, all poetry gatherings are supervised by the Ministry of Information and Culture. Provincial authorities are required to record events, while a committee comprising representatives from the ministry, the Vice and Virtue authority, and the Ulema Council reviews and approves material before publication or public performance.
