This is the latest in a series of conversations I have been having with an Afghan friend about life under the Taliban.
Dear David:
Last Friday night, I went to the wedding of one of my friends. Inside the wedding hall, about two hundred men and boys were sitting on each side. Everyone around each six-person table was busy talking to each other. Half an hour passed, they brought the food and we ate. After the meal, everyone left the hall one by one and went home. There was no music and no dancing because the Taliban banned them in wedding halls.
Before the Taliban, it was customary at weddings that after eating, everyone gathered together and danced to their favorite music in front of the groom. The pleasure of this dance lasted for several days and created happy memories.
But the Taliban have a long-standing enmity with dance and music. In 2001, the first time they ruled Afghanistan, they broke everything that could play music, like televisions and cassette players. These days, many music videos have been published by local media and are also circulating on social media, so the Taliban go to artists' offices and break their musical instruments. No television stations operating inside Afghanistan are able to broadcast music.
Afghanistan is the land of many forbiddens. Men and women being together in public is forbidden. Dancing is forbidden. Music is forbidden. Girls are forbidden to study. Women are forbidden to work. Women are forbidden to travel without a man. Women are forbidden to appear with their faces uncovered. For men, shaving is forbidden. Wearing Western-style pants is forbidden. Many other things are forbidden.z
Ultimately, happiness itself is forbidden.
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