Musical instruments have been thrown on a bonfire in Afghanistan, with the ruling Taliban government declaring music is immoral.

Since they seized power in August 2021, the Taliban has imposed regulations and laws that align with a conservative view of Islam, including banning women from work and school.

Now, in the northwestern region of Herat, officials from Afghanistan’s vice ministry have been throwing musical instruments on a bonfire, after collecting them from the city.

The burning pile included guitars and other stringed instruments, a harmonium and a drum, as well as amplifiers and speakers.

Uzair-ur-Rahman Mohajer, the deputy director of the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice in Herat, said the instruments had been rounded up after a fatwa was issued by scholars.

“Promoting music causes moral corruption and playing it will cause the youth to go astray,” he said.

Earlier this month, the Taliban banned women’s beauty salons in Afghanistan – without giving a reason.

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Business owners had one month to close down their premises.

It came days after the government said it would take “necessary steps” for “the betterment of women as half of society in order to provide them with a comfortable and prosperous life according to the Islamic Shariah”.

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