It has been reported throughout major news outlets that the Taliban run Afghan Government in Kabul has ordered musical instruments to be destroyed on bonfires.

It follows reports from 2021 that showed musicians being humiliated and forced to walk with their instruments hung around their necks.

At the time, Parsa Askari Fardin, head of the Afghanistan Music Artists Network, said the musicians and singers faced numerous challenges in the country. "In some cases, our colleagues have been beaten and were treated improperly.

In some cases, they have been treated in a way that war prisoners are not. Afghanistan Music Artists Network condemn such moves," he said.

Burning instruments

Now comes reports from Uzair-ur-Rahman Mohajer, the deputy director of the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, saying that the burning of instruments has been ordered by religious scholars.

"Promoting music causes moral corruption and playing it will cause the youth to go astray,"he said.

The images are alleged to come from western Herat province with the burning pile including guitars, other unidentifiable stringed instruments, a harmonium and tabla drum, as well as amplifiers and speakers. Many of these had been reportedly seized from wedding venues in the city.

Music banned

All forms of music were banned from social gatherings, television and radio while the Taliban were in power in Afghanistan from the mid-90s until 2001.

Since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban have imposed numerous cultural and artistic restrictions once again.

Cultural genocide

Ahmad Sarmast, Afghanistan National Institute of Music founder, was reported as stating to the BBC that the actions were in his opinion, "cultural genocide and musical vandalism".

He added: "The people of Afghanistan have been denied artistic freedom… The burning of musical instruments in Herat is just a small example of the cultural genocide that is taking place in Afghanistan under the leadership of the Taliban."

Ahmad Sarmast, Afghanistan National Institute of Music founder, was reported as stating to the BBC that the actions were in his opinion, "cultural genocide and musical vandalism"4BR

Astray

An official at the Taliban's Vice and Virtue Ministry said playing music would "cause the youth to go astray".

Afghanistan's Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice has also warned people against selling musical instruments, adding that it is considered 'haram' and anyone found trading would be met with punishment. A similar bonfire was organised by the Taliban on 19th July.

Earlier this month the Taliban banned women's beauty salons stating that it was taking "necessary steps" for "the betterment of women as half of society in order to provide them with a comfortable and prosperous life according to the Islamic Shariah".