The Taliban’s Directorate for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Khost province has suspended the operations of 12 recording studios. According to Taliban officials, religious chants and devotional songs were recorded and performed at these studios, and their closure was intended to enforce what the Taliban call “Sharia principles.”
Mustaghfir Gurbaz, spokesperson for the Taliban governor in Khost, announced the closures in a post on X on Tuesday, October 20, saying the studios had been shut down because of these activities.
However, officials from the Taliban’s Directorate for the Promotion of Virtue have not yet provided further details about the duration of the closures, the fate of the studios’ owners and employees, or the possible conditions for resuming their operations.
The Taliban have previously imposed restrictions on musical activities and media productions in Afghanistan. The group has banned the broadcasting of music by media outlets and, in some cases, confiscated and burned musical instruments. In 2025, Taliban officials also reported the arrest of several employees of media production companies on charges of dubbing and translating films and television series.
Available reports indicate that the Taliban’s restrictions on artistic and media activities continue. However, further details about the specific reasons for closing each of the 12 studios and the owners’ responses have not been made public.
#Afghanistan #Khost #Taliban #PromotionOfVirtue #Music #Media
