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No Music, No TV

An eerie stillness fell on the Afghan capital of Kabul last month. Hours after capturing the city, rebel fighters known as the Taliban announced that Afghanistan would now be ruled by a very strict set of laws. The playing of music was forbidden. Movie theaters, the TV station and even schools for girls were closed. "I cry seeing the classrooms locked," says the caretaker of a girls high school in Kabul.

Loudspeakers perched on top of Kabul's mosques, places of worship, warned women to stay home. The few women who dared go outside had to wear a head-to-toe veil.

The Taliban are former religious students. Little is known about them, except that they follow a very strict form of Islam, the Muslim religion.

For two years the Taliban have marched across Afghanistan, taking control of most of the country. Wherever they rule, television sets are forbidden, women cannot work outside the home, and men must grow beards.

The Taliban believe that Islamic law forbids women to be educated. They believe in harsh punishment for criminals: thieves' hands are cut off. Political enemies are also punished cruelly. Two weeks ago, the Taliban executed a former President of Afghanistan, Najibullah.

A Nation Desperate For Peace
How do Afghans feel about the new rules? Some are fleeing the country. But many say they are willing to sacrifice their freedoms if it means an end to years of war.

For most of the past 20 years, Afghanistan has been a battleground. Government after government has failed to keep the peace. In 1979 the Soviet Union sent in its army. This only made the situation worse. Ten years later, when the Soviets pulled out, rival groups continued to feud. Kabul was almost destroyed by bombings and street fighting that took more than 30,000 lives.

Now that the Taliban have taken control, they will insist on Islamic law, says a former government official. "But people say that at least now there will be just one law. In the past, everyone had his own law," he said. In Afghanistan today, that's the sweetest dream: peaceful law and order throughout the land, no matter who is in charge.

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Afghanistan Facts

POPULATION 17 million; 99% Muslim
GEOGRAPHY Mountains cover 80% of this Texas-size country.
HISTORY Afghanistan has often been invaded by conquering armies. In 1747 it became an independent nation. In the 1800s and 1900s Afghans battled British control. From 1926 to 1973, Afghan kings ruled. Civil war broke out in the late 1970s. Soviet troops invaded in 1979 and stayed for 10 years, but fighting continued.

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