KABUL: Taliban authorities have arrested 14 people in northern Afghanistan for playing musical instruments and singing, activities they restricted since taking power, provincial police said on Saturday.

The Taliban government has steadily imposed laws and regulations that reflect their vision of Islamic law since seizing power in 2021.

This includes cracking down on music in public, from live performances to playing at gatherings, in restaurants, in cars or on radio and TV.

The police said in a statement that on Thursday night in the capital of northern Takhar province “fourteen individuals… took advantage of the nighttime to gather in a residential house where they were playing musical instruments and singing songs, which caused disturbance to the public”.

Those detained were under investigation, it added. After their takeover, Taliban authorities shuttered music schools and smashed or burned musical instruments and sound systems, saying music caused “moral corruption” and public disturbance.

Wedding halls are no longer allowed to play music, though segregated women’s sections often do so secretly. Many Afghan musicians fled the Taliban takeover out of fear or in need of work after losing their livelihoods in one of the world’s poorest countries.

The Taliban authorities have encouraged former musicians to turn their talents to Islamic poetry and unaccompanied vocal chants — the only forms of music allowed under their previous rule from 1996-2001.

Published in Dawn, May 11th, 2025