Talibanâs religious police reportedly burned a number of musical instruments in the western province of Herat, according to a Sunday report by the state-run news agency Bakhtar.
Sheikh Aziz al-Rahman al-Muhajir, the provincial head of the Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, said music led to âmisguidance of the youth and the destruction of society,â according to the report.
People could be corrupted, according to the official. The Taliban banned nonreligious music the last time it ruled the country in the 1990s.
Pictures show officials gathered around a fire with musical instruments, including guitars, harmoniums and speakers. A pile of musical instruments burn as the Taliban imposes new restrictions on music
Afghanistan has a strong musical tradition, influenced by Iranian and Indian classical music.
It also has a thriving pop music scene, adding electronic instruments and dance beats to more traditional rhythms.
Both flourished in the past 20 years before the Taliban stormed to power in 2021.
But the Taliban has imposed harsh measures since seizing control of Afghanistan in August 2021 as US and NATO forces withdrew.
Students and teachers of the Afghanistan National Institute of Music, which was once famous for its inclusiveness, have not returned to classes since the Taliban takeover. Many musicians have also fled the country.
Talibanâs crackdown on womenâs rights
The Taliban promised a more moderate rule than that of their previous time in power in the 1990s. They had promised to allow for womenâs and minority rights. But instead, they reintroduced harsh measures in line with their strict interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia.
They have carried out public executions, banned education for girls beyond the sixth grade and also banned women from most forms of employment.
Earlier this week, the Taliban announced that all beauty salons ought to be closed because they offered services forbidden by Islam and caused economic hardship for the families of grooms during wedding festivities.
This is the society Afghans want. They were given 20 years to build a foundation against a re-emergence of Taliban. They choose corruption and paper soldiers.
Never have a so large army been beaten to fast with so few bullets fired.
If they want to live in a religious hellhole. Let them.
I have to admit, it kind of shocks me that so few people in Afghanistan were unwilling to fight the Taliban when they knew just how bad they were/could be. People were desperate enough to try clinging to the exterior of planes when western forces were leaving, but not desperate enough to fight back. I donât know, itâs tragic and confusing at the same time.
Uh, theyâve been in war like state most of the time since 1970s. Wars caused by outsiders. Iâm pretty sure that at this point, most people just want to live in peace, no matter how shitty that peace is.
This is in part where the Talibanâs strength stems from: at least they are domestic oppressors, not troops from abroad.
I can definitely, at least in part, see that a domestic oppressor is âbetterâ than foreign troops, and Iâm not trying to sa that âthis is all the Afghanis faultâ or anything similar. The troubles and tragedy in Afghanistan are very clearly largely the fault of foreign governments the past 50-ish years. What confuses me is all the people willing to risk so much to get out, or the people that appreciated the freedoms they had when they were not under Taliban rule, not being willing to take the same risks by fighting the Taliban and preventing them from getting to power in the first place.
I guess it comes down to this: They had â20 years to build up the education and political systems, as well as the military strength to withstand the Taliban. As long as western forces were deployed, there were plenty of Afghani troops and police risking their lives to protect those systems. But once western troops left, so many of them threw down their weapons and fled. I have a hard time understanding why.
Sure. But burning musical instruments? That is just idiotic. What level of fear is that serving? I donât get it.
Christians also had this for time, until they figured out how to use music for marketing Christianity.
The whole point of those monotonous songs in churches is that theyâre not exciting, not titillating.
To be fair, the first Christians were instructed to pull their eyes out to prevent seeing something that leads to sinful thoughts.
Some historical quotes to get a sense of it: https://www.bible.ca/H-music.htm
I have buddies that served in Afghanistan and what Iâll share will sound shitty, but reality sometimes is simply shitty.
The country is just full of uneducated superstitious, goat herders. There isnât real allegiance to âAfghanistanâ as a country, so building a unified democracy is/was pretty much impossible.
They were training Afghan troops but would never turn their backs on them lol, they said theyâd frequently try to pull shit and the concept of discipline, leadership that you need for a stable military / police simply isnât in the culture.
People were hoping for post ww2 Germany, but Germany was a country filled with educated people with a history of order Afghanistan has just been tribes at war for decades⊠There was no way to make it work.
Thatâs not to say that Afghanistan doesnât have good people in it that just want peace feed their family and live, but at its current state itâs not going to be anything but a theocratic hell hole.
There isnât real allegiance to âAfghanistanâ as a country, so building a unified democracy is/was pretty much impossible.
Thatâs the core of the matter. There is no âAfghanistanâ. There are just many, many tribes. Until the tribal mindset goes away, nothing will change.
This is a problem in many countries. itâs in part a consequence of the haphazardly manner in which the border were drawn, and maybe of a lack of exposure to more than a few valleys.
Few months ago on another platform, I watched a video that same shitty kind of people who must be absolutely extinct at same situation just destroyed a vintage intricate musical instrument (very much heirloomâaccordion/keyboard?) as if they were proudly doing right; as if it was how they, humans, are supposed to live (life without music TF to them).
Just as I said long ago (I deleted it as I left the platform),
I dare, and I will never ever be born and live in an unmelodious and inharmonious world that theyâre desperately creating (through their absurd malevolent passionate principles), an invibrant and soulless world that nobody whoâs gratefully listened and forever enjoyed music and other wonderful things will never ever wish.
Another shitty propaganda cause they know instinctively how great does music affect everyoneâs minds to realize wider and better and never worse I believe. Annihilating music is as same as burning the books and suppressing any media.
Deeply un-Islamic. The history of Arab and Islamic music goes back right to the birth of the religion and the life of Muhammad himself.
As with all religious stuff, thatâs just your opinion. The sahih bukhari suggests otherwise, putting music in the same vein as âillegal sexual intercourseâ (and wearing silk, cuz why not lmao)
American evangelicals would like to have a word with you. I mean fuck the Taliban theyâre horrible. But theyâre not all that special or unique. Nor are they representative of Islam as a whole. And even there we should be admonishing Christians as much as we seem to want to admonish islamists.
Hilariously enough the right will read this go âbarbarians!â and then scamper off to a book burning without seeing the resemblance.
