Residents of Baghlan and Samangan provinces in northern Afghanistan say that the Taliban is extorting money from them in exchange for being allowed to play music at their weddings.
Farkhunda, who spoke under pseudonym, said that the Taliban are using their ban on music as a way to extort money. Last week, Farkhunda, a resident of Dand-e-Ghori district of Baghlan province, participated in a close relative’s wedding, for which the groom’s family paid the Taliban 1,000 afghani so that they could play music at the party.
“In the past, our neighbourhood was under Taliban control and all our gatherings were held without music, but since the Taliban took over the government, they are giving permission to play music in exchange for 1,000 to 1,500 afghani (US$11-17),” she told Zan Times.
Farkhunda says that the Taliban also charges a fee for bridal cars. She recounts that the Taliban demanded 1,000 afghani from the groom before he and his bride were allowed through a vehicle checkpoint.
Fakhria, a resident of Aybak, the capital of Samangan province, confirms the Taliban extortion schemes aimed at wedding parties in an interview with Zan Times. She says that if the groom’s family does not pay the Taliban, they find an excuse to disrupt the wedding party.
The official Taliban policy is that music is forbidden. Therefore, televisions and radios are not allowed to broadcast music and the music department at Kabul University has been dismantled. In the past year, there have been many reports about the Taliban’s repression of music and harassment, torture, and murder of artists and musicians.
Last month, Fakhria attended a neighbourhood wedding party that was interrupted by the Taliban. “Six Taliban gunmen came in a pickup truck,” she said. “They stood in front of the house and demanded that the loudspeaker be handed to them. When the owner of the house brought the loudspeaker, the Taliban broke it.” Only after the owner paid the gunmen was the party allowed to resume playing music.
