Taliban have asked poets and writers in northern Faryab province to avoid criticizing their leader and their rule in their works, local sources told Amu on Tuesday.
The order was issued during an event titled the “Law on Regulating Poetry Competitions,” organized by earlier this week the Taliban-run Information and Culture Department in Faryab, with local Taliban officials, poets and writers in attendance, the sources said.
According to attendees, Shamsuddin Mohammadi, the Taliban’s head of information and culture in Faryab, told participants that all poems, writings and public recitations must now be shared with the department before being published or performed at cultural events.
Sources said the regulation, approved by the Taliban’s supreme leader, consists of one chapter and 13 articles. It requires poets and writers to refrain from political criticism, stoking divisions, or promoting ethnic and sectarian bias.
Instead, the rules instruct writers to promote Sunni Islamic beliefs, unity, mutual respect and Islamic teachings, while producing what the Taliban deem “valuable works” and avoiding “baseless emotions” and “un-Islamic” content.
