The Taliban has stated clearly that it would ensure a ban on music because it is “Un-Islamic.”
This statement was contained in an interview with the New York Times by the spokesperson of the Taliban, Zabiullah Mujahid, recently.
He however noted that they planned to persuade people to abide by the new rule, rather than enforce it on them.
The ban would trigger a return to one of the very strict rules of the Taliban’s 1990s emirate, when most varieties of music were banned, except religious chants.
The chief spokesman of the movement announced the new ban during an interview where he attempted to stress that the movement had changed since its first government.
Mujahid said: “Music is forbidden in Islam but we’re hoping that we can persuade people not to do such things, instead of pressuring them.”
The Taliban allowed religious singing during their former government but labelled other forms of music as a distraction that could trigger impure thoughts. The sight of clumps of tape gotten from confiscated music cassettes and hung on trees became one of the abiding images of their regime in the 90s.
Afghanistan Radio and TV stations have stopped broadcasting music recently except for Islamic songs, but it remains unclear if this was because of Taliban orders, or self-censorship to prevent potential problems with the insurgents.
The restriction on music came despite the movement saying it has moved on in the past 20 years and is intent on rebuilding Afghanistan.
Mujahid said: “We want to build the future, and forget what happened in the past.”
A lot of the group’s most notorious former restrictions involved women, that were unable to leave their houses without a male chaperone, and were unable to work. Also, girls were banned from education.
Recently, Mujahid said female government workers should stay at home until the Taliban had reimposed security.
He said fears that the Taliban would force women to stay at home were baseless and that the requirement for a male chaperone was grossly misunderstood.
He said: “If they go to school, the office, university, or the hospital, they don’t need a [male guardian].”
