A look at some of the activities the Taliban banned during its rule, and the fears of Afghans now taking part in them.
The Taliban had outlawed dozens of seemingly innocuous activities and pastimes in Afghanistan during its 1996-2001 rule, including kite flying, TV soap operas, pigeon racing, fancy haircuts, and even playing music.
These have made a comeback in the years since, but fears are growing they will be banned again if the armed group returns to power.
Taliban fighters have made enormous military and territorial gains since US troops began their final withdrawal in May. The group’s leaders say they want Afghanistan to return to being an Islamic state ruled by religious elders.
The AFP news agency looks at some of the activities the Taliban banned, and the fears of those now taking part in them.
The musician
Sayed Mohammad makes a living as a professional musician playing the japani, a traditional Central Asian stringed instrument he first picked up as a boy.
He still remembers the evening 20 years ago when the Taliban broke into a house where he and his friends were playing music and singing songs.
According to the Taliban’s strict interpretation of Islam, only the human voice should produce music – and only in praise of God.
“I was young, so I was beaten less than my friends,” said Mohammad, now 40 and a resident of the former Taliban bastion of Kandahar.
“I was still unable to stand for three days,” he added.
He was lucky, he said, describing how on another occasion the Taliban cut off the fingers of one of his friends for playing the japani.
When the group was removed from power, Mohammad celebrated by attending a concert.
“When the music played, I felt a tremor passing through my body out of sheer joy,” he said. “Joy that our country was free and that people were now free to start a new life.”
Since then, many Afghans like Mohammad have become professional musicians and singers.
“There is no pleasure in life if we live in fear,” the father of eight told AFP.
He is determined to pursue his passion, even if the Taliban returns to power. “It’s like an addiction. Even if they cut our fingers we will still play music.”
The kite-maker
In a bustling Kabul market shop, surrounded by hundreds of colourful kites of all sizes, Zelgai says he is determined not to give up the business his family has run for generations – and he has flown close to the wind before.
In this photo taken on June 9, 2021, a kite vendor displays his merchandise for sale at a shop in Shor Bazaar in the old quarters of Kabul
The Taliban outlawed kite flying on the grounds it distracted young men from praying and other religious activities, but Zelgai and his family kept operating.
“Of course, we did it in secret,” the 59-year-old told AFP at his shop in the capital’s Shor Bazaar.
His colourful store has hundreds of fragile readymade kites for sale, and he also takes orders for elaborate custom designs.
And business has soared in the years since the Taliban was out of power.
“This is freedom … we are able to showcase and sell our kites openly without any fear,” Zelgai said.
The much-loved national pastime earned a reputation abroad after Afghan author Khaled Hosseini’s 2003 bestselling novel The Kite Runner was turned into a film.
Today, when the wind is right, thousands of kites can be seen fluttering in Afghanistan’s clear blue skies.
Some are engaged in fights, with the pilots trying to outwit each other with their flying skills and some using glass-encrusted twine to cut the strings of their opponents.
“People would suffer if it is banned. Thousands of families survive on this,” Zelgai said.
The Taliban outlawed dozens of seemingly innocuous activities and pastimes in Afghanistan during its 1996-2001 ruleThe breakdancer
The day Manizha Talash took up breakdancing, she knew she would become a target for the Taliban.
Talash is the only female member of a group of mostly Hazara boys who practise breakdancing in Kabul, usually in secret.
The 18-year-old has the support of her mother, who has several jobs to support the family after her husband went missing a few years ago.
But for Talash, who dreams of representing Afghanistan at the Olympics, the risks of continuing are multiple.
Not only is she a girl taking part in a forbidden activity, but she is also a member of the Hazara community, considered heretical by some Muslims.
“If the Taliban has not changed and they lock women at homes and trample their rights, then life would be meaningless for me and for millions of other women of Afghanistan,” said Talash.
In this photo taken on June 12, 2021, Manizha Talash, centre, the only female member of a group of breakdancers comprised of mostly Hazara boys, practises a move
Despite the risks – the troupe was forced to switch practice venues after receiving death threats – she is determined to pursue her passion.There have been women pioneers in many fields in Afghanistan, and Talash now sees herself as one of them.
“We had no women police officers before; now you see them everywhere,” she said, dressed in a T-shirt, cap and black leggings – an outfit that would be anathema to the Taliban.
“I took the risk of becoming a target. I have fear in my heart but I won’t give up.”
The makeup artist
In a small shop in the Afghan capital, Kabul, beautician Farida transforms a shy young Afghan woman into a radiant bride-to-be.
Oversized false eyelashes are delicately glued on, followed by the application of a rich carmine-red lipstick. Next comes eyeshadow, before beige and ochre blush is delicately brushed on.
In this photo taken on June 10, 2021, a beautician paints the nails of a Pashtun bride for her marriage at a beauty parlour in Kabul Despite its bustling popularity, Farida’s beauty parlour is one of the hundreds across the country that face an uncertain future.The Taliban severely restricted the movement and activities of women and girls during its rule, and banned beauty parlours from operating in public.
“If they come back, we’ll never have the freedom we have now,” said 27-year-old Farida, who asked not to be further identified.
“They don’t want women working.”
Farida’s shop is busiest on Thursday and Friday – the weekend in Afghanistan when hundreds gather for huge wedding ceremonies.
Out of the sight of men, the women come to be pampered for a few hours.
Beauty comes at a price, however. At Farida’s salon, one of Kabul’s most popular, a full treatment package can cost up to $300.
“I think the Taliban will force us to leave when they come,” Farida said, adding she would love to move to Canada given a chance.
The shisha smoker
On the bank of a river flowing through the eastern city of Jalalabad, Mohammad Saleem and his friends gather every evening to smoke shisha, an ancient pastime enjoying something of a renaissance across the world.
“Smoking shisha is very normal at the moment in Afghanistan,” said Saleem, puffing the vapours of fruit-flavoured tobacco from a bubbling hookah.
But the Taliban says it is an intoxicant, something prohibited by the Quran.
In this photo taken on June 9, 2021, men smoke a ‘hookah’ water pipe along a river on the outskirts of Jalalabad
Shisha cafés have popped up across the country since the fall of the Taliban, serving hot saffron tea to customers occupied with their pipes.Café owner Bakhtyar Ahmad believes the habit is a good way to keep youngsters off the streets, or from indulging in worse vices, such as drugs.
“There is peace here. We serve shisha and we play music in the café,” Ahmad said. “If the Taliban come back with their old ideas then they will stop us.”
Shisha smokers agree.
“It will not be possible to go for a picnic or smoke shisha by the side of a river like now,” Saleem said.
The barber
Business is brisk at Mohammad Ghaderi’s salon in the western city of Herat, with young men lining up for a shave or fancy haircut that matches their favourite Bollywood or Hollywood actor.
In this photo taken on June 9, 2021, a barber cuts the hair of a customer along a road in Herat
“Afghanistan has entered a new world,” said Ghaderi, a men’s hairstylist for nearly 10 years.
“There are more hairdressers now, more young people taking to fashion … the government is not against it like the way the Taliban were.”
While men in rural areas tend to stick to Islamic styles – a shaved top lip, a beard longer than a man’s fist – city slickers are a parade of the latest fashion.
But Ghaderi and his customers fear their individualism will end if the Taliban returns.
“We are afraid that if the Taliban enter the city and the bazaar, they might be the same as they were 20 years ago,” he said.
“Again women will be in burqa and young men would not be free to do what they want,” added Sanaullah Amin, a regular customer.
Dozens of Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli strikes in central and south Gaza as Red Sea tensions rise.
Here’s how things stand on Monday, January 15, 2024:
Latest updates and human impact
- Israeli attacks continue unabated overnight killing and wounding dozens of civilians in central and southern Gaza. At least 22 people were killed and a large number injured as a result of Israeli forces targeting al-Thalatheni Street in the central Gaza Strip.
- Yemen’s Houthi rebels fired an antiship cruise missile toward an American destroyer in the Red Sea, which was shot down by a US fighter jet, announced US Central Command (CENTCOM) on X.
- This was the first US-acknowledged Houthi attack since the US strikes on Yemen on Friday.
- Hamas released a 37-second video showing three Israeli captives held in Gaza on Sunday, saying they would reveal the fate of the captives on Monday and urging the Israeli government to stop the offensive.
- The Israeli military says it has shifted to a new phase of the war focused on the southern end of Gaza, where almost 2 million internally displaced Palestinians are running out of safe spaces to shelter.
- The Gaza Ministry of Health has said almost 24,000 people have been killed in the Israeli offensive. More than 60,000 people have been wounded in 100 days of war.
Diplomacy
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that his country will pursue its war against Hamas until victory and will not be stopped by anyone, including the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
- The White House said on Sunday that “it’s the right time” for Israel to scale back its military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
- Egypt’s State Information Service (SIS) said in a statement on Sunday that one of the biggest obstacles to the timely delivery of sufficient aid to Gaza was Israeli inspection of the aid. The statement came after Israel blamed Cairo for the delay in aid delivery to Gaza during its defence at the ICJ.
- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken posted on X on Monday, calling for the release of the remaining captives held in Gaza on the 100th day since they were taken by Hamas. He did not mention the Palestinian casualties.
- Australia’s Foreign Minister Penny Wong, who described herself as a “friend of Israel” to the press, will travel to Jordan, Israel, the occupied Palestinian Territories and the United Arab Emirates this week, her office said on Monday.
West Bank raids and violence
- Israeli forces arrested 25 students staging a sit-in in protest against high tuition fees at An-Najah University in Nablus. Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut reported that the protesting students received a text message from Israeli forces telling them to “surrender now”.
- Israeli forces have reportedly raided the family home of Nael al-Barghouti, the longest-serving Palestinian prisoner, in the village of Kobar, in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.
- The Israeli army said on Friday that it killed three Palestinian men who infiltrated a West Bank settlement and fired upon soldiers.
- The Israeli military killed two Palestinians after accusing them of ramming their car through a checkpoint near Hebron.
- Local sources reported that Israeli forces bulldozed two Palestinian-owned houses during a Sunday midnight raid in the city of Qalqilya, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
- Armed Israeli settlers broke into the village of Burin, south of Nablus, and attacked Palestinian residents’ houses and properties after midnight on Sunday, Wafa reported.
- “Violent raids and arrests have become part of the fabric of daily life in the occupied West Bank,” Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Jamjoom, reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, said. At least 347 Palestinians have been killed and thousands have been arrested since October 7.
Flames and smoke billow during Israeli attacks against Gaza on October 9, 2023
Human Rights Watch terms Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant’s call for a ‘complete siege’ on Gaza a ‘war crime’.
The Hamas movement has threatened to kill an Israeli hostage every time Israel bombs a Palestinian home without warning as Israel mobilised some 300,000 reservists and imposed a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, denying the enclave’s millions of residents access to food, water and fuel.
The warning from Hamas came on Monday as the death toll from the armed group’s surprise weekend attack climbed to 900 in Israel and revenge attacks by Israeli forces on the besieged Gaza Strip killed more than 700 people and left some 3,700 others wounded.
Residential apartment blocks, hospitals, schools and a mosque have been among the sites attacked by Israeli fighter jets, artillery and drones, according to media reports and witnesses.
Hamas spokesperson Abu Ubaida issued the threat to kill Israelis from the dozens held captive by the armed group. He said an Israeli hostage would be killed for every Israeli bombing of a civilian house without warning.
Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said more than 100 people were taken captive by Hamas during the deadly cross-border incursion over the weekend.
As Israeli forces conducted intense retaliatory attacks on Gaza on Monday, Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant drew international condemnation by announcing a total blockade of the densely populated and besieged enclave, which is home to 2.3 million people.
Gallant said Israel would impose a “complete siege” on Gaza. “No electricity, no food, no water, no gas – it’s all closed.”
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he was “deeply distressed” by the siege announcement and warned that Gaza’s already dire humanitarian situation will now “only deteriorate exponentially”.
Guterres also said some 137,000 people were taking shelter with the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) at schools across Gaza.
UNRWA said on Tuesday that almost 190,000 people have been displaced in Gaza amid the Israeli attacks and the figure is expected to grow further as the violence intensifies.
Nearly half a million people have also not received food rations this week in Gaza as UN food distribution centres have been forced to remain closed amid the Israeli onslaught, UNRWA said.
Human Rights Watch said Israel’s total blockade on the necessities of life for everyday people in Gaza was a war crime.
“Defense Minister Gallant’s statements are abhorrent,” Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement.
“Depriving the population in an occupied territory of food and electricity is collective punishment, which is a war crime, as is using starvation as a weapon of war. The International Criminal Court should take note of this call to commit a war crime,” he said.
Abhorrent. This is a call to commit a war crime by @yoavgallant. The @IntlCrimCourt should take note.
Quote by @OmarSShakir ⤵️ https://t.co/kKVo6YtpI1 pic.twitter.com/neHQMwnXVn
— Human Rights Watch (@hrw) October 9, 2023
Shakir also condemned the threat by Hamas to kill hostages, warning that such action was also a war crime.
“All hostages should be safely released to their families,” he said.
Grotesque. These threatened acts would amount to flagrant war crimes by Hamas’ armed wing. The @IntlCrimCourt will be watching.
Quote from @OmarSShakir ⤵️ https://t.co/FuNtvHe0YG pic.twitter.com/6cnHODLWyZ
— Human Rights Watch (@hrw) October 9, 2023
On the diplomatic front, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Hamas and Israel to immediately end violence and protect civilians, the Egyptian presidency said.
Erdogan urged Israel against “indiscriminately” attacking civilians and delivered measured criticism of Hamas, urging both sides to respect the “ethics” of war.
The United Kingdom, French, German, Italian and US governments issued a joint statement on Monday recognising the “legitimate aspirations” of the Palestinian people and supporting equal measures of justice and freedom for Israelis and Palestinians alike.
But the prospect that fighting could spread also alarmed the region and the world.
Lebanese armed group Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel in response to at least three of its members being killed in Israeli shelling of Lebanon.
Israel said one of its deputy commanders was also killed in an earlier cross-border raid from Lebanon.
US President Joe Biden holds a bilateral meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the sidelines of the 78th United Nations General Assembly in New York City, the US, September 20, 2023
Social media users, including journalists and observers, are calling out what they call a ‘double standard’.
After Saturday’s surprise attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Israel, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy took to the social media platform X to offer “condolences go out to everyone who lost relatives or close ones in the terrorist attack”.
He also stated, “Israel’s right to self-defence is unquestionable.”
Many world leaders, including US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, shared similar sentiments.
The world is seeing appalling images.
Thousands of rockets raining down on Israeli cities. Hamas terrorists killing not only Israeli soldiers, but civilians on the streets and in their homes.
It’s unconscionable. Israel has a right to defend itself – full stop.
— President Biden (@POTUS) October 7, 2023
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated, “Israel has the right to defend itself – today and in the days to come. The European Union stands with Israel.”
Accusations of Western ‘double standards’
Some social media users have criticised these statements, saying they highlight a double standard.
The world is seeing appalling images.
Thousands of rockets raining down on Israeli cities. Hamas terrorists killing not only Israeli soldiers, but civilians on the streets and in their homes.
It’s unconscionable. Israel has a right to defend itself – full stop.
— President Biden (@POTUS) October 7, 2023
Ukraine’s right to defend itself is praised by most international leaders while Russia’s invasion is condemned, but commentators said the same cannot be said about Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
Aaron Bastani, a leftist British journalist, said on X that there’s a “clear double standard in endorsing terrorism against civilian targets in Ukraine … and condemning it by Palestinians”.
Many users said Western diplomats and media support the Ukrainians who defend their land, but label the Palestinians fighting against Israel as “terrorists”.
https://twitter.com/KhaledBeydoun/status/1710787817415082349?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1710787817415082349%7Ctwgr%5E6acf829869e993177f32aa38aa48c02f38cb7f61%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aljazeera.com%2Fnews%2F2023%2F10%2F9%2Fwestern-leaders-accused-of-hypocrisy-over-response-to-palestine-ukraine
An illustration of a woman’s face, in which one eye is closed beside a Palestinian flag, and one eye open beside a Ukrainian flag, has been regularly shared as a symbol of the West’s alleged double standards in how the two conflicts are viewed.
https://twitter.com/OnlinePalEng/status/1710994682883273172?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1710994682883273172%7Ctwgr%5E6acf829869e993177f32aa38aa48c02f38cb7f61%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aljazeera.com%2Fnews%2F2023%2F10%2F9%2Fwestern-leaders-accused-of-hypocrisy-over-response-to-palestine-ukraine
Clips also emerged on social media from a CNN interview with Mustafa Barghouti, the general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, in which he posed the rhetorical question, “Why does the United States support Ukraine in fighting occupation – while here they support the occupier, who continues to occupy us?”
The hypocrisy and double standards of western governments and media platforms dealing with situations in Ukraine-Russia and Palestine-Israel blow the mind. Absolute disgrace.
— Said Yacoubi (@AlyacoubiSaid) October 8, 2023
It is not the first time Western nations have been accused of double standards in their stance on the Ukraine war.
Earlier in the year, Amnesty International published a report highlighting the West’s “double standards” on global human rights.
Agnes Callamard, Amnesty’s secretary-general, told Al Jazeera at the time that the occupation of Palestinian territory was a “particularly important one”.
“Without making any comparison between Russia’s aggression and Israel … it is clear the Palestinian people are under a regime of oppression – a regime of occupation and a regime of apartheid,” Callamard told Al Jazeera.
Over the last three days, X users recirculated earlier statements calling out what they called Western hypocrisy, sharing video by the Irish lawmaker Richard Boyd Barrett from March 2022 in which he berated the Irish government’s double standards regarding Ukraine and Palestine:
“You’re happy to use the most strong and robust language to describe the crimes against humanity of [Russian President] Vladimir Putin, but you will not use the same strength of language when it comes to describing Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians.”
Barrett on Sunday again called out what he described as “shocking double standards of Western leaders supporting Ukraine resistance but condemning Palestinian[s].”
Meanwhile, others warned against comparing conflicts.
https://twitter.com/denfordauthor/status/1710993737738768607?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1710993737738768607%7Ctwgr%5E6acf829869e993177f32aa38aa48c02f38cb7f61%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aljazeera.com%2Fnews%2F2023%2F10%2F9%2Fwestern-leaders-accused-of-hypocrisy-over-response-to-palestine-ukraine
And some cautioned that Hamas and the Palestinians should not be seen as one and the same.
Just to clarify:
Palestine did not mount an attack on Israel. An Iranian proxy militia did. Palestinians are by and large huddled in their homes praying that an Israeli airstrike won't kill them or theirs. Hamas is the culprit here. This isn't a decentralized grassroots thing.
— Romeo Kokriatski (@VagrantJourno) October 9, 2023
Ukrainian footballer Oleksandr Zinchenko, who plays for Arsenal, posted on Instagram, stating he “stands with Israel”.
Zinchenko has been a vocal supporter of his home country in its ongoing defence against Russia, and he participated in a Game4Ukraine charity match in London earlier this year to raise money for Ukraine.
After online backlash, with some questioning an alleged double standard in his support of Israel, the footballer removed the post and switched his social media account to private.
Several people claimed that Zinchenko’s football club, in not responding to his comments, was guilty of hypocrisy after they had distanced themselves from former player Mesut Ozil’s comments in 2019 over alleged human rights abuses against Uighur Muslims in China.
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