The Taliban has set fire to dozens of instruments in Afghanistan after claiming music “causes moral corruption”.
Photos released by the hardline Islamist group show four men standing next to a bonfire of musical instruments collected from across the country.
The pile of burning equipment included a guitar, two other stringed instruments, cables, a harmonium, a tabla, some speakers and amplifiers.
Sheikh Aziz al-Rahman al-Mujahir, area chief for the western province of Herat in the Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, said music led to “misguidance of the youth and the destruction of society” and that people could be “corrupted” by it.
The Taliban has carried out a raft of repressive measures since taking power in August 2021.
Women and girls had previously been banned from university education, several professions and public spaces including parks.
Girls cannot go to school beyond sixth grade in Afghanistan, with the education ban extending to universities.
Authorities present the education restrictions as temporary suspensions rather than bans, but universities and schools reopened in March without their female students.
In April, Taliban leaders banned women from restaurants with gardens in Afghanistan’s north-western Herat province following complaints from religious scholars about gender mixing.
