Editing Taliban (section)

== Condemned practices ==
{{See also|Human rights in Afghanistan|Persecution of Hazara people#Afghanistan|War crimes in Afghanistan#Taliban}}The Taliban have been internationally condemned for their harsh enforcement of their interpretation of Islamic ''Sharia'' law, which has resulted in their brutal treatment of many Afghans. During their rule from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban enforced a strict interpretation of ''Sharia'', or Islamic law.{{sfn|Matinuddin|1999|pages=37, 42–43}} The Taliban and their allies committed massacres against Afghan civilians, denied UN food supplies to 160,000 starving civilians, and conducted a policy of [[scorched earth]], burning vast areas of fertile land and destroying tens of thousands of homes. While the Taliban controlled Afghanistan, they banned activities and media including paintings, photography, and movies that depicted people or other living things. They also prohibited music with instrumental [[accompaniments]], with the exception of the [[daf]], a type of [[frame drum]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite news |title=Ethnomusicologist Discusses Taliban Vs. Musicians |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/British_Ethnomusicologist_Discusses_Talibans_Campaign_Against_Musicians/1753865.html |access-date=13 August 2021 |newspaper=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|date=23 June 2009 }}</ref> The Taliban prevented girls and young women from attending school, banned women from working jobs outside of healthcare (male doctors were prohibited from treating women), and required that women be accompanied by a male relative and wear a [[burqa]] at all times when in public. If women broke certain rules, they were publicly [[Flagellation|whipped]] or [[Public execution|executed]].<ref>{{Cite news |agency=Reuters Staff |date=1 September 2015 |title=Afghan man and woman given 100 lashes in public for adultery |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-adultery-idUSKCN0R13UE20150901 |access-date=13 August 2021}}</ref> The Taliban harshly discriminated against religious and ethnic minorities during their rule and they have also committed a [[cultural genocide]] against the people of Afghanistan by destroying numerous monuments, including the famous 1500-year-old Buddhas of Bamiyan. According to the United Nations, the Taliban and their allies were responsible for 76% of Afghan [[Civilian casualties in the war in Afghanistan (2001–2021)|civilian casualties]] in 2010, and 80% in 2011 and 2012.<ref>ISAF has participating forces from 39 countries, including all 26 NATO members. See {{Citation |title=ISAF Troop Contribution Placement |date=5 December 2007 |url=http://www.nato.int/isaf/docu/epub/pdf/isaf_placemat.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091109012206/http://www.nato.int/isaf/docu/epub/pdf/isaf_placemat.pdf |publisher=NATO |archive-date=9 November 2009}}</ref> The group is internally funded by its involvement in the illegal drug trade which it participates in by producing and trafficking in [[narcotic]]s such as heroin,<ref name="FPdrug">{{Cite web |last=O’Donnell |first=Lynne |title=The Taliban Are Breaking Bad |date=19 July 2021 |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/07/19/taliban-expanding-drug-trade-meth-heroin/}}</ref><ref name="Stateterrorismdrugs">{{Cite web |author=Bureau of Public Affairs, Department Of State. The Office of Electronic Information |title=The Taliban, Terrorism, and Drug Trade |url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/p/inl/rls/rm/sep_oct/5210.htm |website=2001-2009.state.gov}}</ref> extortion, and kidnapping for ransom.<ref name="VOAmoney">{{Cite web |title=Where Are the Taliban Getting Their Money? |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/us-afghanistan-troop-withdrawal_where-are-taliban-getting-their-money/6209559.html |website=Voice of America|date=13 August 2021 }}</ref><ref name="Sufizada" /> They also seized control of mining operations in the mid-2010s that were illegal under the previous government.<ref name="BBCmoney">{{Cite news |date=27 August 2021 |title=Afghanistan: How do the Taliban make money? |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-46554097}}</ref>

=== Massacre campaigns ===
According to a 55-page report by the United Nations, the Taliban, while trying to consolidate control over northern and western Afghanistan, committed systematic [[massacre]]s against civilians. UN officials stated that there had been "15 massacres" between 1996 and 2001. They also said, that "[t]hese have been highly systematic and they all lead back to the [Taliban] Ministry of Defense or to Mullah Omar himself." "These are the same type of war crimes as were committed in Bosnia and should be prosecuted in international courts", one UN official was quoted as saying. The documents also reveal the role of Arab and Pakistani support troops in these killings. Bin Laden's so-called [[055 Brigade]] was responsible for mass-killings of Afghan civilians. The report by the United Nations quotes "eyewitnesses in many villages describing Arab fighters carrying long knives used for slitting throats and skinning people". The Taliban's former ambassador to Pakistan, Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, in late 2011 stated that cruel behaviour under and by the Taliban had been "necessary".<ref name="Newsday 2001">{{Cite news |last=Gargan |first=Edward A |date=October 2001 |title=Taliban massacres outlined for UN |work=Chicago Tribune |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/2001/10/12/taliban-massacres-outlined-for-un/}}</ref><ref name="papillonsartpalace.com">{{Cite web |year=2001 |title=Confidential UN report details mass killings of civilian villagers |url=http://www.papillonsartpalace.com/massacre.htm |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021118162327/http://www.papillonsartpalace.com/massacre.htm |archive-date=18 November 2002 |access-date=12 October 2001 |website=Newsday |publisher=newsday.org}}</ref><ref name="Ahmed Rashid/The Telegraph">{{Cite news |date=11 September 2001 |title=Afghanistan resistance leader feared dead in blast |publisher=Ahmed Rashid in the Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/1340244/Afghanistan-resistance-leader-feared-dead-in-blast.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/1340244/Afghanistan-resistance-leader-feared-dead-in-blast.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=31 December 2011 |title=Taliban spokesman: Cruel behavior was necessary |url=http://www.tolonews.com/en/purso-pal/4847-cruel-behaviour-was-necessary-during-taliban-rule-zaeef-says |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120423154739/http://www.tolonews.com/en/purso-pal/4847-cruel-behaviour-was-necessary-during-taliban-rule-zaeef-says |archive-date=23 April 2012 |access-date=1 September 2012 |publisher=Tolonews.com}}</ref>

In 1998, the United Nations accused the Taliban of denying emergency food by the UN's [[World Food Programme]] to 160,000 hungry and starving people "for political and military reasons".<ref>{{Cite news |date=7 January 1998 |title=Associated Press: U.N. says Taliban starving hungry people for military agenda |publisher=Nl.newsbank.com |url=http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=NewsLibrary&p_multi=APAB&d_place=APAB&p_theme=newslibrary2&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0F8B4F98500EA0F8&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&s_trackval=GooglePM |access-date=1 September 2012}}</ref> The UN said the Taliban were starving people for their military agenda and using humanitarian assistance as a weapon of war.<ref name="Skaine">{{Cite book |last=Skaine |first=Rosemarie |title=Women of Afghanistan in the Post-Taliban Era: How Lives Have Changed and Where They Stand Today |publisher=McFarland |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-7864-3792-4 |page=41}}</ref><ref name="Shanty1">{{Cite book |last=Shanty |first=Frank |title=The Nexus: International Terrorism and Drug Trafficking from Afghanistan |publisher=Praeger |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-313-38521-6 |pages=86–88}}</ref><ref name="UNAMA">{{Cite news |date=9 March 2011 |title=Citing rising death toll, UN urges better protection of Afghan civilians |work=United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan |url=http://unama.unmissions.org/Default.aspx?tabid=1783&ctl=Details&mid=1882&ItemID=12602 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726085402/http://unama.unmissions.org/Default.aspx?tabid=1783&ctl=Details&mid=1882&ItemID=12602 |archive-date=26 July 2011}}</ref><ref name="Haddon">{{Cite news |last=Haddon |first=Katherine |date=6 October 2011 |title=Afghanistan marks 10 years since war started |agency=Agence France-Presse |url=https://news.yahoo.com/afghanistan-marks-10-years-since-war-started-211711851.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111010055026/http://news.yahoo.com/afghanistan-marks-10-years-since-war-started-211711851.html |archive-date=10 October 2011}}</ref><ref name="The Weekly Standard">{{Cite news |date=10 August 2010 |title=UN: Taliban Responsible for 76% of Deaths in Afghanistan |work=The Weekly Standard |url=http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/taliban-responsible-76-deaths-afghanistan-un |url-status=dead |access-date=30 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110102054938/http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/taliban-responsible-76-deaths-afghanistan-un |archive-date=2 January 2011}}</ref>

On 8 August 1998, the Taliban launched an attack on Mazar-i-Sharif. Of 1500 defenders only 100 survived the engagement. Once in control the Taliban began to kill people indiscriminately. At first shooting people in the street, they soon began to target Hazaras. Women were raped, and thousands of people were locked in containers and left to suffocate. This [[ethnic cleansing]] left an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 people dead. At this time [[1998 killing of Iranian diplomats in Afghanistan|ten Iranian diplomats]] and a journalist were killed. Iran assumed the Taliban had murdered them, and mobilised its army, deploying men along the border with Afghanistan. By the middle of September there were 250,000 Iranian personnel stationed on the border. Pakistan mediated and the bodies were returned to Tehran towards the end of the month. The killings of the diplomats had been carried out by [[Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan|Sipah-e-Sahaba]], a Pakistani Sunni group with close ties to the ISI. They burned orchards, crops and destroyed irrigation systems, and forced more than 100,000 people from their homes with hundreds of men, women and children still unaccounted for.<ref name="Armajani-207">{{Cite book |last=Armajani |first=Jon |title=Modern Islamist Movements: History, Religion, and Politics |publisher=Wiley-Blackwell |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-4051-1742-5 |page=207}}</ref><ref name="Riedel-66-7">{{Cite book |last=Riedel |first=Bruce |title=The Search for Al Qaeda: Its Leadership, Ideology, and Future |publisher=Brookings Institution |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-8157-0451-5 |edition=2nd Revised |pages=66–67}}</ref><ref name="Clements3">{{Cite book |last=Clements |first=Frank |title=Conflict in Afghanistan: a historical encyclopedia |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-85109-402-8 |page=106}}</ref><ref name="Gutman">{{Cite book |last=Gutman |first=Roy |url=https://archive.org/details/howwemissedstory00gutm/page/142 |title=How We Missed the Story: Osama Bin Laden, the Taliban, and the Hijacking of Afghanistan |publisher=Institute of Peace Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-60127-024-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/howwemissedstory00gutm/page/142 142]}}</ref><ref name="Tripathi">{{Cite book |last=Tripathi |first=Deepak |title=Breeding Ground: Afghanistan and the Origins of Islamist Terrorism |publisher=Potomac |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-59797-530-8 |page=116}}</ref>

In a major effort to retake the [[Shomali Plains]] to the north of Kabul from the United Front, the Taliban indiscriminately killed civilians, while uprooting and expelling the population. Among others, Kamal Hossein, a special reporter for the UN, reported on these and other [[war crime]]s. In [[Istalif]], a town famous for handmade potteries and which was home to more than 45,000 people, the Taliban gave 24 hours' notice to the population to leave, then completely razed the town leaving the people destitute.<ref name="NPR">{{Cite news |date=1 August 2002 |title=Re-Creating Afghanistan: Returning to Istalif |publisher=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2002/aug/afghanistan/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131023072254/http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2002/aug/afghanistan/ |archive-date=23 October 2013}}</ref><ref name="Coburn">{{Cite book |last=Coburn |first=Noah |title=Bazaar Politics: Power and Pottery in an Afghan Market Town |publisher=Stanford University Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-8047-7672-1 |page=13}}</ref>

In 1999, the town of [[Bamian]] was taken, hundreds of men, women and children were executed. Houses were razed and some were used for forced labour. There was a further massacre at the town of [[Yakaolang]] in January 2001. An estimated 300 people were murdered, along with two delegations of Hazara elders who had tried to intercede.<ref name="Maley2-240">{{Cite book |last=Maley |first=William |title=The Afghanistan wars |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-333-80290-8 |page=240}}</ref><ref name="Clements4">{{Cite book |last=Clements |first=Frank |title=Conflict in Afghanistan: a historical encyclopedia |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-85109-402-8 |page=112}}</ref>

By 1999, the Taliban had forced hundreds of thousands of people from the Shomali Plains and other regions conducting a policy of scorched earth burning homes, farm land and gardens.<ref name="NPR" />

=== Human trafficking ===
Several Taliban and al-Qaeda commanders ran a network of human trafficking, abducting ethnic minority women and selling them into [[sex slavery]] in Afghanistan and Pakistan.<ref name="Time Magazine">{{Cite magazine |date=10 February 2002 |title=Lifting The Veil On Taliban Sex Slavery |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,201892,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110602140825/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,201892,00.html |archive-date=2 June 2011 |access-date=16 July 2021}}</ref> ''Time'' magazine writes: "The Taliban often argued that the restrictions they placed on women were actually a way of revering and protecting the opposite sex. The behavior of the Taliban during the six years they expanded their rule in Afghanistan made a mockery of that claim."<ref name="Time Magazine" />

The targets for human trafficking were especially women from the [[Tajiks|Tajik]], [[Uzbeks|Uzbek]], Hazara and other non-Pashtun ethnic groups in Afghanistan. Some women preferred to commit suicide over slavery, killing themselves. During one Taliban and al-Qaeda offensive in 1999 in the Shomali Plains alone, more than 600 women were kidnapped.<ref name="Time Magazine" /> Arab and Pakistani al-Qaeda militants, with local Taliban forces, forced them into trucks and buses.<ref name="Time Magazine" /> ''Time'' magazine writes: "The trail of the missing Shomali women leads to Jalalabad, not far from the Pakistan border. There, according to eyewitnesses, the women were penned up inside Sar Shahi camp in the desert. The more desirable among them were selected and taken away. Some were trucked to Peshawar with the apparent complicity of Pakistani border guards. Others were taken to Khost, where bin Laden had several training camps." Officials from relief agencies say, the trail of many of the vanished women leads to Pakistan where they were sold to brothels or into private households to be kept as slaves.<ref name="Time Magazine" />

=== Oppression of women ===
{{Main|Treatment of women by the Taliban}}
{{further|Women in Afghanistan}}
[[File:Taliban beating woman in public RAWA.jpg|right|thumb|Taliban [[Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Afghanistan)|religious police]] beating a woman in [[Kabul]] on 26 August 2001<ref>{{Cite web |title=Movies |url=http://www.rawa.us/movies/beating.mpg |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090325014821/http://www.rawa.us/movies/beating.mpg |archive-date=25 March 2009 |publisher=Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) |format=MPG}}</ref>]]

{{blockquote|To PHR's knowledge, no other régime in the world has methodically and violently forced half of its population into virtual [[house arrest]], prohibiting them on pain of physical punishment.<ref name="physicians">{{Cite web |title=The Taliban's War on Women |url=http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/library/documents/reports/talibans-war-on-women.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070702234326/http://physiciansforhumanrights.org/library/documents/reports/talibans-war-on-women.pdf |archive-date=2007-07-02 |access-date=2007-03-04}}, Physicians for Human Rights, August 1998.</ref>|Physicians for Human Rights|1998}}

[[File:RAWA protest rally against Taliban in Peshawar April28-1998.jpg|thumb|Members of the [[Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan]] protesting against the Taliban, in [[Peshawar]], Pakistan in 1998]]
[[Taliban treatment of women|Brutal repression of women]] was widespread under the Taliban and it received significant international condemnation.<ref name="Forsythe3">{{Cite book |last=Forsythe |first=David P. |title=Encyclopedia of human rights |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-19-533402-9 |edition=Volume 1 |page=2 |quote=In 1994 the Taliban was created, funded and inspired by Pakistan}}</ref><ref name="Maley3">Dupree Hatch, Nancy. "Afghan Women under the Taliban" in Maley, William. ''Fundamentalism Reborn? Afghanistan and the Taliban''. London: Hurst and Company, 2001, pp. 145–166.</ref><ref name="Wertheime">{{Cite book |last=Wertheime |first=Molly Meijer |title=Leading Ladies of the White House: Communication Strategies of Notable Twentieth-Century First Ladies |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-7425-3672-2 |page=253}}</ref><ref name="Cooke">{{Cite book |last=Cooke |first=Miriam |url=https://archive.org/details/terrorculturepol0000unse/page/177 |title=Terror, Culture, Politics: 9/11 Reconsidere |publisher=Indiana University Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0-253-34672-8 |editor-last=Sherman |editor-first=Daniel J. |page=[https://archive.org/details/terrorculturepol0000unse/page/177 177]}}</ref><ref name="Moghadam">{{Cite book |last=Moghadam |first=Valentine M. |url=https://archive.org/details/modernizingwomen0000mogh_x1r1/page/266 |title=Modernizing women: gender and social change in the Middle East |publisher=Lynne Rienner |year=2003 |isbn=978-1-58826-171-7 |edition=2nd Revised |page=[https://archive.org/details/modernizingwomen0000mogh_x1r1/page/266 266]}}</ref><ref name="Massoumi">{{Cite book |last=Massoumi |first=Mejgan |title=The fundamentalist city?: religiosity and the remaking of urban space |publisher=Routledge |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-415-77935-7 |editor-last=AlSayyad |editor-first=Nezar |page=223}}</ref><ref name="Skaine1">{{Cite book |last=Skaine |first=Rosemarie |title=Women of Afghanistan in the Post-Taliban Era: How Lives Have Changed and Where They Stand Today |publisher=McFarland |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-7864-3792-4 |page=57}}</ref><ref>Rashid, Ahmed. ''Taliban''. Yale Nota Bene Books, 2000, pp. 70, 106 {{ISBN?}}.</ref><ref name="Skain">{{Cite book |last=Skain |first=Rosemarie |title=The women of Afghanistan under the Taliban |publisher=McFarland |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-7864-1090-3 |page=41}}</ref><ref>* {{cite news |last1=Gerstenzan |first1=James |last2=Getter |first2=Lisa |date=18 November 2001 |title=Laura Bush Addresses State of Afghan Women |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-nov-18-mn-5602-story.html |access-date=14 September 2012}} * {{Cite web |date=11 September 2007 |title=Women's Rights in the Taliban and Post-Taliban Eras |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/a-woman-among-warlords/womens-rights-in-the-taliban-and-post-taliban-eras/66/ |access-date=14 September 2012 |website=A Woman Among Warlords |publisher=[[PBS]]}}</ref>  Abuses were myriad and violently enforced by the [[Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Afghanistan)|religious police]].<ref>{{Cite news |last1=Graham-Harrison |first1=Emma |last2=Makoii |first2=Akhtar Mohammad |date=9 February 2019 |title='The Taliban took years of my life': the Afghan women living in the shadow of war |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/09/the-taliban-took-years-of-my-life-the-afghan-women-living-in-the-shadow-of-war |url-status=live |access-date=16 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200301200918/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/feb/09/the-taliban-took-years-of-my-life-the-afghan-women-living-in-the-shadow-of-war |archive-date=1 March 2020}}</ref> For example, the Taliban issued edicts forbidding women from being educated, forcing girls to leave schools and colleges.<ref name="Women-Amnesty">{{Cite web |date=25 November 2014 |title=Women in Afghanistan: the back story |url=https://www.amnesty.org.uk/womens-rights-afghanistan-history |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200614193030/https://www.amnesty.org.uk/womens-rights-afghanistan-history |archive-date=14 June 2020 |access-date=16 July 2020 |publisher=Amnesty International}}</ref><ref name="women-StateDepartment">{{Cite web |date=17 November 2001 |title=Report on the Taliban's War Against Women |url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/6185.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200711010830/https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/6185.htm |archive-date=11 July 2020 |access-date=16 July 2020 |website=U.S. Department of State |publisher=Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor}}</ref><ref name="Rashid2">{{Cite book |last=Rashid |first=Ahmed |title=Taliban: Islam, Oil and the New Great Game in Central Asia |publisher=I.B. Tauris |year=2002 |isbn=978-1-86064-830-4 |page=253}}</ref><ref name="Newsday 2001" /><ref name="papillonsartpalace.com" /><ref>{{cite news |title=U.N. says Taliban starving hungry people for military agenda |date=8 January 1998 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-leaf-chronicle-un-says-taliban-starv/145594960/|work=The Leaf-Chronicle |page=A9 |agency=Associated Press}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Goodson |first=Larry P. |url=https://archive.org/details/afghanistansendl00good |title=Afghanistan's Endless War: State Failure, Regional Politics and the Rise of the Taliban |publisher=University of Washington Press |year=2002 |isbn=978-0-295-98111-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/afghanistansendl00good/page/121 121] |url-access=registration}}</ref><ref name="NPR" /> Women who were leaving their houses were required to be accompanied by a male relative and were obligated to wear the ''[[burqa]]'',<ref>{{Cite web |date=13 August 2021 |title=Afghan women forced from banking jobs as Taliban take control |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/afghan-women-bankers-forced-roles-taliban-takes-control-2021-08-13/ |access-date=13 August 2021 |work=Reuters}}</ref> a traditional dress covering the entire body except for a small slit out of which to see.<ref name="Women-Amnesty" /><ref name="women-StateDepartment" /> Those women who were accused of disobedience were publicly beaten. In one instance, a young woman named Sohaila was charged with adultery after she was caught walking with a man who was not a relative; she was publicly flogged in [[Ghazi Stadium]], receiving 100 lashes.<ref>{{Cite news |date=28 February 1998 |title=Woman flogged for adultery |newspaper=The Irish Times |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/woman-flogged-for-adultery-1.137410 |url-status=live |access-date=16 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200716223951/https://www.irishtimes.com/news/woman-flogged-for-adultery-1.137410 |archive-date=16 July 2020}}</ref> Female employment was restricted to the medical sector, where male medical personnel were prohibited from treating women and girls.<ref name="Women-Amnesty" /><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Feroz |first1=Emran |last2=Lakanwal |first2=Abdul Rahman |date=4 May 2020 |title=In Rural Afghanistan, Some Taliban Gingerly Welcome Girls Schools |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/05/04/afghanistan-taliban-girls-schools/ |access-date=13 August 2021 |website=Foreign Policy }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=11 September 2007 |title=A Woman Among Warlords ~ Women's Rights in the Taliban and Post-Taliban Eras |url=https://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/uncategorized/a-woman-among-warlords-womens-rights-in-the-taliban-and-post-taliban-eras/66/ |access-date=13 August 2021 |website=Wide Angle}}</ref> This extensive ban on the employment of women further resulted in the widespread closure of primary schools, as almost all teachers prior to the Taliban's rise had been women, further restricting access to education not only to girls but also to boys. Restrictions became especially severe after the Taliban took control of the capital. In February 1998, for instance, religious police forced all women off the streets of Kabul and issued new regulations which ordered people to blacken their windows so that women would not be visible from outside.<ref>{{Cite magazine |last=Lacayo |first=Richard |date=25 November 2001 |title=About Face for Afghan Women |magazine=Time |url=http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,185651,00.html |url-status=live |access-date=16 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191222090147/http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,185651,00.html |archive-date=22 December 2019}}</ref>

====Ban on women's participation in the healthcare sector====
In December 2024, the Taliban's health ministry banned women from being trained in [[nursing]] and [[midwifery]], according to media reports confirmed by ''The Guardian''.<ref name="Guardian midwife ban">{{cite web|last1=Kumar|first1=Ruchi|last2=Joya|first2=Zahra|url=https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/dec/06/taliban-afghanistan-ban-women-training-nurses-midwives-outrageous-act-ignorance-human-rights-healthcare|title=Taliban move to ban women training as nurses and midwives 'an outrageous act of ignorance'|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=2024-12-06|accessdate=2024-12-08}}</ref> This was a reversal of an earlier February 2024 decision to permit basic medical training for women.<ref name="NPR midwife ban">{{cite web|last=Kumar|first=Ruchi|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/goats-and-soda/2024/12/04/g-s1-36765/afghanistan-taliban-women-nurses-midwives|title=Rights Group: Afghan women barred from studying nursing and midwifery|work=[[NPR]]|date=2024-12-04|accessdate=2024-12-08}}</ref> According to ''[[NPR]]'', the health ministry had lobbied for an exemption from the general ban on women's education in the healthcare sector because "in some provinces, the Taliban does not allow women to seek treatment from male medical professionals."<ref name="NPR midwife ban"/> The Taliban's ban on basic medical training for women was widely condemned by human rights organizations as a danger to the health and well-being of Afghan women and children, with Afghanistan already having among the [[List of countries by maternal mortality ratio|highest maternal mortality ratios in the world]] according to 2020 data, before the Taliban's 2021 seizure of power.<ref name="Guardian midwife ban"/><ref name="NPR midwife ban"/> For example, Heather Barr of Human Right Watch stated: "If you ban women from being treated by male healthcare professionals, and then you ban women from training to become healthcare professionals, the consequences are clear: women will not have access to healthcare and will die as a result."<ref name="Guardian midwife ban"/> The [[Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights]] (OHCHR) stated that the ban "is profoundly discriminatory, short-sighted and puts the lives of women and girls at risk in multiple ways."<ref>{{cite web|last=Mishra|first=Vibhu|url=https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/12/1157866|title=Afghanistan: UN condemns Taliban ban on women attending medical classes|publisher=[[United Nations]]|date=2024-12-05|accessdate=2024-12-08}}</ref>

=== Violence against civilians ===
According to the United Nations, the Taliban and its allies were responsible for 76% of civilian casualties in Afghanistan in 2009, 75% in 2010 and 80% in 2011.<ref name="UNAMA" /><ref name="Kegley">{{Cite book |last1=Kegley |first1=Charles W. |title=World Politics: Trend and Transformation |first2=Shannon L. |last2=Blanton |publisher=Cengage |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-495-90655-1 |page=230}}</ref>

According to Human Rights Watch, the Taliban's bombings and other attacks which have led to civilian casualties "sharply escalated in 2006" when "at least 669 Afghan civilians were killed in at least 350 armed attacks, most of which appear to have been intentionally launched at non-combatants."<ref name="hrw-cbceia">{{Cite web |date=17 April 2007 |title=Human Rights News, Afghanistan: Civilians Bear Cost of Escalating Insurgent Attacks |url=http://hrw.org/english/docs/2007/04/16/afghan15688.htm |access-date=2 September 2012 |publisher=Human Rights Watch}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=16 April 2007 |title=The Consequences of Insurgent Attacks in Afghanistan, April 2007, Volume 19, No. 6(C) |url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/2007/afghanistan0407/ |access-date=2 September 2012 |publisher=Human Rights Watch}}</ref>

[[File:Demonstration gegen den Taliban-Krieg in Afghanistan (51380125214).jpg|thumb|Afghans in Germany protesting against Taliban violence, 14 August 2021]]
The United Nations reported that the number of civilians killed by both the Taliban and pro-government forces in the war rose nearly 50% between 2007 and 2009. The high number of civilians killed by the Taliban is blamed in part on their increasing use of [[improvised explosive device]]s (IEDs), "for instance, 16 IEDs have been planted in girls' schools" by the Taliban.<ref name="Arnoldy">{{Cite journal |last=Arnoldy |first=Ben |date=31 July 2009 |title=In Afghanistan, Taliban kills more civilians than US |url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2009/0731/p06s15-wosc.html |journal=The Christian Science Monitor}}</ref>

In 2009, Colonel [[Richard Kemp]], formerly Commander of British forces in Afghanistan and the intelligence coordinator for the British government, drew parallels between the tactics and strategy of [[Hamas]] in [[Gaza Strip|Gaza]] to those of the Taliban. Kemp wrote:

{{blockquote|Like Hamas in Gaza, the Taliban in southern Afghanistan are masters at shielding themselves behind the civilian population and then melting in among them for protection. Women and children are trained and equipped to fight, collect intelligence, and ferry arms and ammunition between battles. Female suicide bombers are increasingly common. The use of women to shield gunmen as they engage [[NATO]] forces is now so normal it is deemed barely worthy of comment. Schools and houses are routinely booby-trapped. Snipers shelter in houses deliberately filled with women and children.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The UN Goldstone Commission: A Lesson in Farcical Hypocrisy, Defense Update. By David Eshel |url=http://defense-update.com/analysis/analysis_280909_goldstone_kemp.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130223032851/http://defense-update.com/analysis/analysis_280909_goldstone_kemp.html |archive-date=2013-02-23 |access-date=2012-09-02 |publisher=Defense-update.com}}</ref><ref name="kemp2">[http://www.securityaffairs.org/issues/2010/18/kemp.php Israel and the New Way of War] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101226163948/https://www.securityaffairs.org/issues/2010/18/kemp.php |date=26 December 2010 }}, ''The Journal of International Security Affairs'', Spring 2010 – Number 18</ref>|Richard Kemp|Commander of British forces in Afghanistan}}

=== Discrimination against Hindus and Sikhs ===
[[Hinduism in Afghanistan|Hindus]] and [[Sikhism in Afghanistan|Sikhs]] have lived in Afghanistan since [[History of Afghanistan|historic times]] and they were prominent minorities in Afghanistan, well-established in terms of academics and businesses.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Weekes |first=Richard V. |url=http://archive.org/details/muslimpeopleswor00week |title=Muslim peoples : a world ethnographic survey |date=1984 |publisher=Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press |others=[[Internet Archive]] |isbn=978-0-313-23392-0 |page=[https://archive.org/details/muslimpeopleswor00week/page/601 601]}}</ref> After the Afghan Civil War they started to migrate to India and other nations.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Communism, Rebellion, and Soviet Intervention |url=http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+af0028) |access-date=8 May 2021 |website=lcweb2.loc.gov}}</ref> After the Taliban established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, they imposed strict ''Sharia'' laws which discriminated against Hindus and Sikhs and caused the size of Afghanistan's Hindu and Sikh populations to fall at a very rapid rate because they emigrated from Afghanistan and established [[diaspora]]s in the Western world.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kabir |first=Nahid A. |year=2005 |title=The Economic Plight of the Afghans in Australia, 1860–2000 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/20838963 |journal=Islamic Studies |volume=44 |issue=2 |pages=229–250 |doi=10.52541/isiri.v44i2.4699 |issn=0578-8072 |jstor=20838963}}</ref> The Taliban issued decrees that forbade non-Muslims from building places of worship but allowed them to worship at existing holy sites, forbade non-Muslims from criticizing Muslims, ordered non-Muslims to identify their houses by placing a yellow cloth on their rooftops, forbade non-Muslims from living in the same residence as Muslims, and required that non-Muslim women wear a yellow dress with a special mark so that Muslims could keep their distance from them (Hindus and Sikhs were mainly targeted).{{Sfn|Rashid|2000|pp=231–234}} The Taliban announced in May 2001 that it would force Afghanistan's Hindu population to wear special badges, which has been compared to the treatment of Jews in [[Nazi Germany]].<ref name="wired.com">[[Associated Press]] (22 May 2001). [https://www.wired.com/2001/05/taliban-to-enforce-hindu-badges/ "Taliban to Enforce Hindu 'Badges.'"] ''[[Wired (magazine)|Wired]]''. Retrieved 22 July 2020.</ref> In general, the Taliban treated the Sikhs better than Afghan Shiites, Hindus and Christians.<ref>{{Cite news |date=13 April 2001 |title=Sikhs set example for getting along with the Taliban |work=The Christian Science Monitor |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/2001/0413/p7s1.html |access-date=11 May 2021 |issn=0882-7729}}</ref>

=== Relationship with other religious groups ===
{{further|Attacks on humanitarian workers|Christianity in Afghanistan}}
Along with Hindus, the small [[Christianity in Afghanistan|Christian community]] was also persecuted by the Taliban.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Gebauer|first=Matthias |title=Christians in Afghanistan: A Community of Faith and Fear |url=https://www.spiegel.de/international/christians-in-afghanistan-a-community-of-faith-and-fear-a-408781.html |access-date=11 May 2021 |website=Der Spiegel|date=30 March 2006 }}</ref> Violence against Western aid workers and Christians was common during the Afghan conflict.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Ten killed in Afghanistan worked for Christian group |url=https://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/07/ten-killed-in-afghanistan-worked-for-christian-group/ |access-date=2023-04-05 |website=CNN |archive-date=5 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230405100006/https://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/07/ten-killed-in-afghanistan-worked-for-christian-group/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

On several occasions between 2008 and 2012, the Taliban claimed that they assassinated Western and Afghani medical or aid workers in Afghanistan, because they [[Vaccine misinformation|feared that the polio vaccine would make Muslim children sterile]], because they suspected that the 'medical workers' were really spies, or because they suspected that the medical workers were [[Proselytism|proselytizing]] Christianity.

In August 2008, three Western women (British, Canadian, US) who were working for the [[Humanitarian aid|aid group]] '[[International Rescue Committee]]' were murdered in Kabul. The Taliban claimed that they killed them because they were foreign spies.<ref name="BBC, Oct008">{{Cite news |date=20 October 2008 |title=UK charity worker killed in Kabul |work=BBC News |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7679212.stm |access-date=7 October 2017}}</ref> In October 2008, the British woman [[Gayle Williams]] working for Christian UK charity '[[SERVE Afghanistan]]' – focusing on training and education for disabled persons – was murdered near Kabul. Taliban claimed they killed her because her organisation "was preaching Christianity in Afghanistan".<ref name="BBC, Oct008" /> In all 2008 until October, 29 aid workers, 5 of whom non-Afghanis, were killed in Afghanistan.<ref name="BBC, Oct008" />

In August 2010, the Taliban claimed that they murdered 10 medical aid workers while they were passing through [[Badakhshan Province]] on their way from Kabul to [[Nuristan Province]] – but the Afghan Islamic party/militia [[Hezb-e Islami Gulbuddin]] has also claimed responsibility for those killings. The victims were six Americans, one Briton, one German and two Afghanis, working for a self-proclaimed "non-profit, Christian organization" which is named 'International Assistance Mission'. The Taliban stated that they murdered them because they were proselytizing Christianity and possessing which were translated into the Dari language when they were encountered. IAM contended that they "were not missionaries".<ref>[https://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2010/08/hizbiislam_taliban_b.php 'Hizb-i-Islami, Taliban both claim killing 10 medical workers in northern Afghanistan']. FDD's Long War Journal, 7 August 2010. Retrieved 5 October 2017.</ref>

In December 2012, unidentified gunmen killed four female UN polio-workers in [[Karachi]] in Pakistan; the Western news media suggested that there was a connection between the outspokenness of the Taliban and objections to and suspicions of such '[[Polio vaccine|polio vaccinations]]'.<ref>[https://news.yahoo.com/gunmen-kill-4-female-polio-workers-pakistan-091459457.html "Gunmen kill 4 female polio workers in Pakistan"] (18 December 2012), Yahoo! News, The Associated Press. Retrieved 10 September 2013.</ref> Eventually in 2012, a Pakistani Taliban commander in [[North Waziristan]] in Pakistan banned polio vaccinations,<ref>{{Cite news |last=Walsh |first=D. |date=18 June 2012 |title=Taliban Block Vaccinations in Pakistan |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/19/world/asia/taliban-block-vaccinations-in-pakistan.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120619231746/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/19/world/asia/taliban-block-vaccinations-in-pakistan.html |archive-date=19 June 2012 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=27 May 2013}}</ref> and in March 2013, the Afghan government was forced to suspend its vaccination efforts in [[Nuristan Province]] because the Taliban was extremely influential in the province.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Graham-Harrison |first=E. |date=12 March 2013 |title=Taliban stopping polio vaccinations, says Afghan governor |work=The Guardian |location=London |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/12/taliban-stopping-polio-vaccinations-afghanistan |access-date=27 May 2013}}</ref> However, in May 2013, the Taliban's leaders changed their stance on polio vaccinations, saying that the vaccine is the only way to prevent polio and they also stated that they will work with immunization volunteers as long as polio workers are "unbiased" and "harmonized with the regional conditions, Islamic values and local cultural traditions."<ref name="poliotelegraph">{{Cite news |last1=Babakarkhail |first1=Z. |last2=Nelson |first2=D. |date=13 May 2013 |title=Taliban renounces war on anti-polio workers |work=The Telegraph |location=London |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/10053981/Taliban-renounces-war-on-anti-polio-workers.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/10053981/Taliban-renounces-war-on-anti-polio-workers.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |access-date=27 May 2013}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=14 May 2013 |title=Taliban pledge support for Afghan polio campaign |publisher=[[CBC News]] |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/taliban-pledge-support-for-afghan-polio-campaign-1.1311957 |access-date=27 May 2013}}</ref>

{{further|History of the Jews in Afghanistan}}
During the first period of Taliban rule, only two known Jews were left in Afghanistan, [[Zablon Simintov]] and Isaac Levy (c. 1920–2005). Levy relied on charity to survive, while Simintov ran a store selling carpets and jewelry until 2001. They lived on opposite sides of the dilapidated Kabul synagogue. They kept denouncing each other to the authorities, and both spent time in jail for continuously "arguing". The Taliban also confiscated the synagogue's [[Torah scroll]]. However, the two men were later released from prison when Taliban officials became annoyed by their arguing.<ref>Adkins, Laura E. (31 October 2019). [https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/taliban-kicked-arguing-last-afghani-jews-out-of-prison-stole-torah-606457 "'Last Afghani Jews' kicked out of Taliban prison for being too annoying."] ''[[The Jerusalem Post]]''. Retrieved 5 October 2020.</ref> After August 2021, the last Jew Simintov and his relative left Afghanistan, ended centuries of Jewish presence in the country.<ref name="apnews">{{Cite web|date=2021-10-29|title=Woman now thought to be Afghanistan's last Jew flees country|url=https://apnews.com/article/afghanistan-lifestyle-canada-religion-middle-east-893baa3e2849b0081882d06d1da07535|access-date=2021-11-12|website=AP NEWS}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=Woman now thought to be Afghanistan's last Jew flees country|url=https://www.independent.ie/world-news/woman-now-thought-to-be-afghanistans-last-jew-flees-country-40996142.html|access-date=2021-11-12|website=independent|date=29 October 2021}}</ref>

=== Restrictions on modern education ===
Before the Taliban came to power, education was highly regarded in Afghanistan and [[Kabul University]] attracted students from Asia and the [[Middle East]]. However, the Taliban imposed restrictions on modern education, banned the education of females, only allowed Islamic religious schools to stay open and only encouraged the teaching of the Qur'an. Around half of all of the schools in Afghanistan were destroyed.<ref name="BBC-education" /> The Taliban have carried out brutal attacks on teachers and students and they have also threatened parents and teachers.<ref name="HRW">{{Cite web |date=11 July 2006 |title=Lessons in Terror Attacks on Education in Afghanistan |url=https://www.hrw.org/report/2006/07/10/lessons-terror/attacks-education-afghanistan |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221022001101/https://www.hrw.org/report/2006/07/10/lessons-terror/attacks-education-afghanistan |archive-date=22 October 2022 |access-date=5 January 2021 |publisher=[[Human Rights Watch]]}}</ref>
As per a 1998 UNICEF report, 9 out of 10 girls and 2 out of 3 boys did not enroll in schools. By 2000, fewer than 4–5% of all Afghan children were being educated at the primary school level and even fewer of them were being educated at higher secondary and university levels.<ref name="BBC-education">{{Cite news |title=Case Study: Education in Afghanistan |publisher=BBC |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/people/features/ihavearightto/four_b/casestudy_art26.shtml}}</ref>

Attacks on educational institutions, students and teachers and the forced enforcement of Islamic teachings have even continued after the Taliban were deposed from power. In December 2017, [[United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs]] (OCHA) reported that over 1,000 schools had been destroyed, damaged or occupied and 100 teachers and students had been killed by the Taliban.<ref name="RefWorld-Education">{{Cite web |date=11 May 2018 |title=Education Under Attack 2018 – Afghanistan |url=https://www.refworld.org/docid/5be94317a.html |access-date=5 January 2021 |publisher=Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack}}</ref>

=== Cultural genocide ===
The Taliban have committed a [[cultural genocide]] against the Afghan people by destroying their historical and cultural texts, artifacts and sculptures.<ref name="RAWA2022">{{Cite web|title=Afghan Taliban leader orders destruction of ancient statues|url=http://www.rawa.org/statues.htm|access-date=10 January 2022|website=www.rawa.org}}</ref>

In the early 1990s, the [[National Museum of Afghanistan]] was attacked and looted numerous times, resulting in the loss of 70% of the 100,000 artifacts of [[Culture of Afghanistan|Afghan culture]] and [[History of Afghanistan|history]] which were then on display.<ref name="NYT">{{Cite news |last=Burns |first=John F. |date=30 November 1996 |title=Kabul's Museum: The Past Ruined by the Present |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/30/world/kabul-s-museum-the-past-ruined-by-the-present.html}}</ref>

On 11 August 1998, the Taliban destroyed the [[Puli Khumri]] Public Library. The library contained a collection of over 55,000 books and old manuscripts, one of the most valuable and beautiful collections of Afghanistan's cultural works according to the Afghan people.<ref name="Acta Academia">{{Cite web |last=Civallero |first=Edgardo |year=2007 |title=When memory is turn into ashes |url=https://www.aacademica.org/edgardo.civallero/113.pdf |access-date=2 January 2021 |publisher=Acta Academia}}</ref><ref name="antoon">''[https://books.google.com/books?id=4DlMSrtOGLIC Censorship of historical thought: a world guide, 1945–2000]'', Antoon de Baets</ref>

On 2 March 2001, the Buddhas of Bamiyan were destroyed with dynamite, on orders from the Taliban's leader Mullah Omar.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Shah |first=Amir |date=3 March 2001 |title=Taliban destroy ancient Buddhist relics – International pleas ignored by Afghanistan's Islamic fundamentalist leaders |work=The Independent |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/taliban-destroy-ancient-buddhist-relics-694425.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110106181318/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/taliban-destroy-ancient-buddhist-relics-694425.html |archive-date=6 January 2011}}</ref>

In October of the same year, the Taliban "took sledgehammers and axes to thousands of years’ worth of artifacts"<ref name="Anderson-2-2022" /> in the National Museum of Afghanistan, destroying at least 2,750 ancient works of art.<ref>{{Cite web |date=23 November 2001 |title=Taliban destroyed museum exhibits |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/1363272/Taliban-destroyed-museum-exhibits.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220110/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/1363272/Taliban-destroyed-museum-exhibits.html |archive-date=10 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |work=The Daily Telegraph}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

Afghanistan has a rich musical culture, where [[Music of Afghanistan|music]] plays an important part in social functions like births and marriages and it has also played a major role in uniting an ethnically diverse country.<ref name="The Guardian" /> However, since it came to power and even after it was deposed, the Taliban has banned most music, including cultural folk music, and it has also attacked and killed a number of musicians.<ref name="The Guardian" /><ref name="Free Muse">{{Cite news |date=26 September 2005 |title=Afghanistan: Seven musicians killed by gunmen |work=Free Muse |url=https://freemuse.org/news/afghanistan-seven-musicians-killed-by-gunmen/ |access-date=6 January 2021 |archive-date=8 January 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108071800/https://freemuse.org/news/afghanistan-seven-musicians-killed-by-gunmen/ |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="The Guardian-music">{{Cite news |last=Rasmussen |first=Sune Engel |date=25 May 2015 |title=He was the saviour of Afghan music. Then a Taliban bomb took his hearing |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/may/25/he-was-the-saviour-of-afghan-music-then-a-taliban-bomb-took-his-hearing}}</ref><ref name="RFERL">{{Cite news |date=15 June 2009 |title=Taliban Attacks Musicians At Afghan Wedding |publisher=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/Taliban_Attacks_Musicians_At_Afghan_Wedding/1754647.html}}</ref>

=== Ban on entertainment and recreational activities ===
During their first rule of Afghanistan which lasted from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban banned many recreational activities and games, such as [[association football]], [[Kite-Flying|kite flying]], and [[chess]]. Mediums of entertainment such as televisions, [[cinemas]], music with instrumental [[accompaniments]], [[Videocassette recorder|VCRs]] and [[satellite dish]]es were also banned.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Rashid |first=Ahmed |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dld2wJ2Z__4C&pg=PA50 |title=Taliban: Militant Islam, Oil and Fundamentalism in Central Asia |date=2010 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-16484-8}}</ref> Also included on the list of banned items were "[[musical instrument]]s and accessories" and all visual representation of living creatures.<ref name="The Guardian">{{Cite news |last=Wroe |first=Nicholas |date=13 October 2001 |title=A culture muted |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/oct/13/afghanistan.books}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |title=Afghanistan: Kabul Artists Tricked Taliban To Save Banned Paintings |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/1098240.html |access-date=13 August 2021 |newspaper=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty|date=9 April 2008 |last1=Recknagel |first1=Charles }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Constable |first=Pamela |date=26 March 2001 |title=Taliban Ban on Idolatry Makes a Country Without Faces |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2001/03/26/taliban-ban-on-idolatry-makes-a-country-without-faces/ddab672b-622c-4aa6-9709-014ca77d0ded/ |access-date=13 August 2021 |issn=0190-8286}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last1=O'Neill |first1=Claire |date=27 November 2012 |title=Afghanistan's Love Of The Big Screen |newspaper=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/pictureshow/2012/11/26/165944525/afghanistans-love-of-the-big-screen |access-date=13 August 2021}}</ref> However, the [[daf]], a type of [[frame drum]], wasn't banned.<ref name=":0" />

It was reported that when Afghan children were caught kiting, a highly popular activity, they were beaten.<ref name="rferl.org">{{Cite news |title=Artistry In The Air – Kite Flying Is Taken To New Heights In Afghanistan |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/1101400.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170203180908/https://www.rferl.org/a/1101400.html |archive-date=3 February 2017 |access-date=21 February 2021 |website=RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty|last1=Podelco |first1=Grant }}</ref> When [[Khaled Hosseini]] learned through a 1999 news report that the Taliban had banned kite flying, a restriction he found particularly cruel, the news "struck a personal chord" for him, as he had grown up with the sport while living in Afghanistan. Hosseini was motivated to write a 25-page short story about two boys who fly kites in Kabul that he later developed into his first novel, ''[[The Kite Runner]]''.

=== Forced conscription and conscription of children ===
{{Main|Taliban conscription}}
According to the testimony of [[Guantanamo captive]]s before their [[Combatant Status Review Tribunal]]s, the Taliban, in addition to conscripting men to serve as soldiers, also conscripted men to staff its civil service – both done at gunpoint.<ref name="Flee Taliban">{{Cite news|last=Dixon|first=Robyn|author-link=Robyn Dixon (journalist)|date=13 October 2001|title=Afghans in Kabul Flee Taliban, Not U.S. Raids|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|location=Shirkat|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-oct-13-mn-56835-story.html|access-date=11 December 2012}}</ref><ref name="CsrtNasrullahConscription40">[{{DoD detainees ARB|Set 33 2302-2425 Revised.pdf}} Summarized transcripts (.pdf)], from Nasrullah's ''[[Combatant Status Review Tribunal]]'', p. 40</ref><ref name="CsrtShabirAhmed">[http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_43_2811-2921.pdf Summarized transcripts (.pdf)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060731084124/http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/detainees/csrt/Set_43_2811-2921.pdf |date=31 July 2006 }}, from [[Shabir Ahmed (Guantanamo captive)|Shabir Ahmed]]'s ''[[Combatant Status Review Tribunal]]'', pp. 80–90</ref>

According to a report from Oxford University, the Taliban made widespread use of the conscription of children in 1997, 1998 and 1999.<ref name="OxfordJanuary2002">{{Cite web |first1=Jo |last1=Boyden |first2=Jo |last2=de Berry |first3=Thomas |last3=Feeny |first4=Jason |last4=Hart |date=January 2002 |title=Children Affected by Armed Conflict in South Asia: A review of trends and issues identified through secondary research |url=http://www.rsc.ox.ac.uk/PDFs/workingpaper7.pdf |url-status=dead |publisher=[[University of Oxford]] [[Refugee Studies Centre]] |access-date=5 January 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070728112528/http://www.rsc.ox.ac.uk/PDFs/workingpaper7.pdf |archive-date=28 July 2007}}</ref> The report states that during the civil war that preceded the Taliban régime, thousands of orphaned boys joined various militia for "employment, food, shelter, protection and economic opportunity." The report said that during its initial period, the Taliban "long depended upon cohorts of youth". Witnesses stated that each land-owning family had to provide one young man and $500 in expenses. In August of that year 5000 students aged between 15 and 35 left madrassas in Pakistan to join the Taliban.