Open Immediately!

Open Immediately!

During the five-year history of the Islamic Emirate, the Taliban regime interpreted the Sharia in accordance with the Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence and the religious edicts of Mullah Omar.[16] The Taliban forbade pork and alcohol, many types of consumer technology such as music,[16] television,[16] and film,[16] as well as most forms of art such as paintings or photography,[16] male and female participation in sport,[16] including football and chess;[16] recreational activities such as kite-flying and keeping pigeons or other pets were also forbidden, and the birds were killed according to the Taliban's ruling.[16] Movie theaters were closed and repurposed as mosques.[16] Celebration of the Western and Iranian New Year was forbidden.[16] Taking photographs and displaying pictures or portraits was forbidden, as it was considered by the Taliban as a form of idolatry.[16] Women were banned from working,[16] girls were forbidden to attend schools or universities,[16] were requested to observe purdah and to be accompanied outside their households by male relatives; those who violated these restrictions were punished.[16] Men were forbidden to shave their beards and required to let them grow and keep them long according to the Taliban's liking, and to wear turbans outside their households.[16][17] Communists were systematically executed. Prayer was made compulsory and those who did not respect the religious obligation after the azaan were arrested.[16] Gambling was banned,[16] and thieves were punished by amputating their hands or feet.[16] In 2000, the Taliban leader Mullah Omar officially banned opium cultivation and drug trafficking in Afghanistan;[16][18][19] the Taliban succeeded in nearly eradicating the majority of the opium production (99%) by 2001.[18][19][20] Under the Taliban governance of Afghanistan, both drug users and dealers were severely prosecuted.[16] Cabinet ministers and deputies were mullahs with a "madrasah education." Several of them, such as the Minister of Health and Governor of the State bank, were primarily military commanders who were ready to leave their administrative posts to fight when needed. Military reverses that trapped them behind lines or led to their deaths increased the chaos in the national administration.[21] At the national level, "all senior Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara bureaucrats" were replaced "with Pashtuns, whether qualified or not." Consequently, the ministries "by and large ceased to function."[22] Rashid described the Taliban government as "a secret society run by Kandaha