Taliban officials burn dozens of instruments in bonfire
Taliban authorities have destroyed dozens of musical instruments, just days after closing beauty salons across Afghanistan.
Key points:
- Taliban officials have shared images of burning instruments and musical equipment
- Officials say music causes "moral corruption"
- The bonfire comes days after beauty salons were closed across Afghanistan
The nation's vice ministry department said it deemed music immoral, destroying hundreds of dollars worth of musical gear in a bonfire on Saturday.
Images shared showed a guitar, two other stringed instruments, a harmonium and a tabla, as well as amplifiers and speakers being burnt.
"Promoting music causes moral corruption and playing it will cause the youth to go astray," Aziz al-Rahman al-Muhajir, the head of the Herat Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, said.
Most of the items were collected from wedding halls in the Herat province.
Taliban authorities have steadily imposed laws and regulations reflecting an austere vision of Islam — including banning playing music in public — since they seized power in August 2021.
Thousands of beauty salons were shut across the country after Taliban authorities deemed certain makeovers to be too costly, or un-Islamic, last week.
Women have borne the brunt of the new government regulations, and are not allowed in public unless wearing a hijab.
Teenage girls and women have been barred from schools and universities, and they are also prohibited from entering parks, playgrounds and gyms.
AFP