Taliban bans music in cars, women without hijab: report

Citing the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, Sputnik reported that a written recommendation had been issued on the subject.

Speaking to Sputnik, a hotel owner in Afghanistan, in October, the Taliban banned live music at weddings and ordered men and women to celebrate in separate halls.

During the last Taliban regime, from 1996 to 2001, women were forced to wear the burqa and not go out without a male guardian. Prayer times were ruthlessly imposed, men were forced to grow beards. As the New York Post reports, moral police were set up in every street, so that violators could be punished with harsh punishments such as whipping, amputation, public execution.

Traces of such incidents have started appearing again on the streets of Kabul.

The Taliban’s Ministry of Virtue Promotion and Vice of Prevention also issued “religious guidelines” calling on Afghanistan’s TV channels to stop showing women in plays and soap operas.

Although the group said that these new guidelines could not be enforced, history has shown that the group is committed to implementing its version of radical Sharia law in the country, Dawn news reported.

As the Taliban once again take control of Afghanistan after 20 years, experts also agree that Afghan women may face an uncertain future under the militant group’s rule.