Art in Chains: How the Taliban Extinguished Afghan Cinema

Since seizing power in August 2021, the Taliban have systematically dismantled Afghanistan’s film industry. Cinemas remain shuttered, the historic Ariana Cinema in Kabul was demolished, and the state-run Afghan Film archive—housing over a century of cinematic history—faces imminent destruction. Women are banned from acting, and films now glorify poverty as a “religious virtue” while omitting female voices entirely.

The Taliban’s cultural crackdown includes closing art schools, destroying statues, and replacing cinemas with moshes and markets. Despite hosting a token film festival (Did-e Now), their nine propaganda films and one series—produced with Iranian collaborators—promote suicide attacks, anti-democratic values, and erase pre-Taliban history. Filmmakers report heavy censorship: scripts must align with Taliban ideology, and women are excluded.

Exiled directors, like Ahmad Ariobi, warn that Taliban-produced films distort Afghanistan’s global image, fostering a narrative of cultural decline. Meanwhile, artists in exile struggle with limited resources and fractured unity. Actress Sabra Sadat, stranded in Kabul, describes surviving poverty while caring for a sick husband and unemployed children: “Cinema is dead here.”

The Afghan Film archive, containing rare documentaries from the British-Afghan wars, King Amanullah’s reign, and Soviet-era works, risks being lost forever. Filmmakers fear the Taliban will destroy these irreplaceable records, erasing Afghanistan’s visual memory.