Life under Taliban rule

Things that were banned in parts of Afghanistan under the Taliban regime:
*Reading of particular books
*Keeping cameras without licence
*Cinema, television, and VCRs (decadent, used for watching pornography, and promoting non-Muslim ideas)
*Internet (though users could log into uncensored internet service providers in Pakistan)
*Music
*Promotion of non-Muslim ideas
*Women without complete body coverings
*Women bathing in public facilities in Kabul
*Women working outside the home (except in health care when kept separate from male workers and patients)
*Women going on picnics or to tourist resorts
*Kite flying (wasted time, Hindu ritual)
*Women being pictured (whether on the printed page or on a frame)
*Women appearing on television or during public performances
*Converting people from Islam (death penalty for Afghan convert, expulsion for foreign national)
*Growing opium poppies
*Photographs, drawings, paintings and statues depicting living human beings
*Forecasting weather (see: Afghanistan Meteorological Authority)
*Although boxing was not banned, Afghan boxers were unable to compete internationally under Taliban rule, because the Taliban banned men from shaving their beards. International boxing rules require contestants to be clean-shaven.
*Women were not permitted to wear see-through socks or shoes, nor to wear shoes that make noise when walking
*Girls going to school

Practices reported in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan:
*Amputating the hands of thieves.
*Public executions
*Shooting of prostitutes in sport stadiums
*Shooting of murderers by victim's family, in sport stadium
*Hanging or throat cutting of robbers, in sport stadium
*Stoning of adulterous (unmarried) couples
*Collapsing a wall over homosexuals
*Destroying ancient Buddhist statues prior to September 11, 2001
*On the advice of the Hindu community elders, who used to be disturbed by the police who thought them to be Muslims who had shaved their beards, on May 22, 2001, the Taliban issued an order that Hindus and other non-Muslims must wear a yellow identity symbol. This policy was replaced in June of the same year, by an order that Hindus were required to carry a special identification card.
*Muslim men were beaten or jailed for shaving or excessively cutting their beards
*Women suffered physical punishment if showed face in public
*Houses with women present were required to have windows facing the street painted over so people outside would not be able to look inside.
*Female patients were to be treated by female physicians only.
*Female doctors were not allowed to wear "stylish clothes or make-up," nor "to enter the rooms where male patients are hospitalized."
*Fingers and hands were chopped off of thieves
*Taliban militiamen smashed any musical instruments they found in homes

In 1999, in accordance with the rules of Islamic Sharia, the Taliban issued ten directives to all non-Muslims, namely that Hindus and Sikhs, living in Afghanistan. Non-Muslims were prohibited from building any new places of worship, prohibited from speaking out against Islam, and required to hang a two-meter yellow cloth from their house. Non-Muslims were banned from living with Muslims. Female non-Muslims were required to wear a chadar in public, and all non-Muslims were required to wear a yellow dress with a mark.

See also

*Life under Saudi rule

External links

*BBC article