New Taliban Restrictions; Criticism of Leader and Love Poetry Becomes a Red Line.
The Taliban Ministry of Justice has announced that Haibatullah Akhundzada, the group’s leader, has signed the “Law on the Regulation of Poetry” in two chapters and 13 articles.
According to this law, poets are prohibited from composing love poems, praising their beloved, and inviting boys and girls to friendship, and will face punishment if they violate it.
The Taliban have emphasized that poems must be composed within the framework of “principles of Islamic ethics, religious politics, self-purification, strengthening Islamic belief, and unity of the nation” and be free from “unlawful desires and unnecessary emotions.”
Poets have also been required to refrain from criticizing the orders and decisions of the Taliban leader and distance themselves from schools of thought such as feminism, democracy, communism, and nationalism.
According to this law, poetry gatherings can only be held in the presence of representatives of the Taliban Ministry of Information and Culture, and poems can be published after being registered and evaluated.
To implement this law, a committee consisting of representatives from the Office of the Publicity Secretary, the Ulema Council, and the Ministry of Culture has been appointed, which will have the authority to “clear” poems before publication.
This new restriction comes at a time when a large number of Afghan poets and writers have been forced to leave the country in recent years due to pressure and threats from the Taliban.
The Taliban had previously banned the writing of romantic poetry, but with the passage of this law, this ban has become legal.
