Two decades later, movies of Afghanistan are available for public

After Taliban left, movies made in Afghanistan before two decades which shows how Afghanistan was before the brutual ruling of Taliban are available for general public now. Habibullah hid thousands of reels of footage showcasing Afghanistan’s rich cultural history, when Taliban was burning movie reels.

“We did not expect to leave for our homes that day alive,” Ali tells AFP, clutching a saved reel. “If they had found out we had hidden movies they would have killed us.”

Taliban is ultra-conservative and hates movies , songs , dance etc.Taliban banned popular entertainment, including cinema and music, during their brutal 1996-2001 rule and even burned several reels.



But the 7,000 precious reels which were hid by Ali are still intact as Taliban had no idea about them. After about 20 years these reels are released through digital medium. “We were very scared but by God’s grace we were able to save the movies and now we have this culture alive,” says the 60-year-old Ali, who has worked at Afghan Film for 36 years.