Taliban authorities have arrested 14 people for singing and playing musical instruments in northern Afghanistan, the provincial police confirmed on Saturday.
Since regaining power in 2021, the Taliban government has implemented numerous laws to enforce its ultra-strict interpretation of Islamic law, including a ban on public music such as on television, at concerts, in restaurants, or from car radios.
On Thursday night in Takhar province’s capital, “14 individuals took advantage of the darkness to gather in a house where they played instruments and sang songs, disturbing public order,” according to a police statement.
Investigations have been launched against those arrested, the statement adds.
Since taking control, Taliban authorities have shut down music schools, with instruments often smashed or burned, and speakers destroyed to prevent “moral corruption” and “youth deviance.”
Wedding halls are no longer permitted to play music, although it is often played secretly among women, who are separated from the men’s section.
Many musicians have left the country in recent years, partly because they lost their livelihoods in one of the world’s poorest nations.
Those who remain have been encouraged by the Taliban to focus on religious chants or poetry, similar to their previous rule from 1996 to 2001.
