Scripture and Strictures

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Three years after the US quit Afghanistan, the country’s ultraorthodox Islamic rulers, the Taliban, have been busy.

Recently, for example, officials from the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice burned 21,000 musical instruments that they said were associated with anti-Islamic practices, reported Voice of America.

As the Asia Society explained, many – but not all – Islamic scholars believe music other than calling Muslims to prayer or chanting verses from the Koran is forbidden because it potentially could lead the faithful astray from concentrating on their religious devotion.

Charred violins and saxophones are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the Taliban’s so-called moral reforms. They have also destroyed and deleted thousands of supposedly immoral films. Afghan officials have also curtailed press freedoms, banned women from working in radio and television stations and from appearing in dramatic performances, and compelled men to grow beards according to the government’s specifications. Images of all living things are banned from being published, as they would violate Sharia law.

The restrictions are even broader now than seen during the first year of Taliban rule, when they began restricting women from the workplace, schools and universities. For example, now, women are banned from speaking or exposing their bare faces in public in Afghanistan. Otherwise, they might tempt men into immoral behavior, the Associated Press wrote. Women shouldn’t even look at men who aren’t their husbands or relatives. And they will be punished for being outside of the home without a male relative.

Some Afghan men don’t like the new rules, especially those that took effect in August, which restrict their freedom to groom and dress themselves as they want. Essentially, they deem short hair, shaved faces and “Western dress” as illegal. “If men had raised their voices, we might also be in a different situation now,” an anonymous Afghan man who lives in the capital Kabul told the Washington Post. “Now, everyone is growing a beard because we don’t want to be questioned, humiliated.”

One positive development, some say, is how Taliban officials have moved to stop the heroin trade. As World Politics Review noted, they have fulfilled their pledge well enough that European experts are now worried that drug dealers will start slinging “highly potent synthetic opioids” to make up for the shortfall in supply.

These restrictions on heroin came, however, as the Taliban failed to improve the Afghan economy, which ignited a rare protest against the regime in May, Voice of America reported. Around 85 percent of the country’s population lives on less than a dollar a day, according to the United Nations. Afghan gross domestic product has decreased 29 percent compared with 2020, too. Forecasts show it will continue to decline.

Terrorists associated with Al Qaeda are not feeling the pinch, however. They have been mining for gold and gems while training fighters in Afghanistan for their next jihad.

An unpublished report by a risk analysis firm reviewed by Foreign Policy details how “deeply embedded the group is in the Taliban’s operations, as they loot Afghanistan’s natural wealth and steal international aid meant to alleviate the suffering of millions of Afghans.”

“Now that they can operate with impunity,” the magazine added, quoting the report, “the Taliban are once again providing Al Qaeda commanders and operatives with everything they need, from weapons to wives”.