Destroyed Over 21,000 Musical Instruments Last Year, Claims Taliban

Officials of the Taliban’s Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Virtue announced that the group destroyed 21,328 musical instruments across Afghanistan last year.

Mohibullah Mokhlis, Director of the Ministry's Planning and Audit, said that the authorities also destroyed 30,000 "immoral films".

The one-year report of the ministry was presented by officials during a press conference on Tuesday, August 21.

Mokhlis said that the activities of 25,647 IT (informational technology) workers have been suspended due to the distribution of "vulgar movies" that were active in cities.

The ministry officials said that they had reformed the broadcast of print, audio, and other media by 90 percent. They did not elaborate on the process of reformation.

They announced the seizure of 13,250 psychedelic pills last year and said that the ministry had also closed 25 shops which sold alcoholic drinks.

The announcement of the destruction of musical instruments in the country comes even as the group has banned music across the country. The Taliban have declared playing, listening and producing music illegal and forbidden in Afghanistan.

The Taliban's Directorate of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Parwan Province announced on Monday that it had set fire to "hundreds of musical instruments" that it had collected over the past year . The Taliban's governor's office in Parwan urged people not to use musical instruments at weddings.

The Taliban's Directorate of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Nimroz province had also announced on July 29 that it had set fire to 700 musical instruments and hookahs in the province.