The mosque attributed to Imam Ali in the city of Mazar-e-Sharif used to host thousands of visitors from across the country each year during Nowruz festival. This year, however, no official ceremony took place in the city, as the Taliban opposed the New Year celebration, even calling the festival as not in line with Islamic law. Therefore, residents of Mazar-e- Sharif started their new year without attending a festival and banner-raising ceremony known as Jahenda Bala. In the past, meanwhile, Nowruz festival was attended by thousands of visitors, political figures, foreign representatives and high-ranking government officials.
Although only a handful of people have visited the shrine, there are people among visitors who traveled long distances enthusiastically to celebrate the event in Mazar-e-Sharif. Tahir Shah and Nasir Ahmad have come to Mazar-e-Sharif from Herat province. They said that they have come to this province in search of joy and entertainment, but their expectations were not meet. “Every year we come to Mazar-e-Sharif from Herat to celebrate the New Year, but when we first visited the city this year, we were [sadly] surprised,” Taher Shah added. “The banner-raising ceremony did not take place. People are no longer interested in it. And we should return to Herat.”
Zarif along with his friends came to Mazar-e-Sharif from Khost province to take advantage of the first few days of the New Year. “I came from Khost,” Zarif said. “Everything is fine here in Mazar-e-Sharif, but there is no sign of previous hustle bustle of the city. Authorities [people in Afghanistan do not use the word ‘Taliban,’ referring to the Taliban as authorities or officials] prevented the festival to take place.”
Meanwhile, residents of Balkh province say that guests from several other provinces have arrived to Mazar-e-Sharif to attend the banner-raising festival, but the Taliban have not allowed the festival to take place. “Several dozens of visitors from Kandahar, Herat, Kabul and other provinces have just arrived in the city to attend the banner-raising program, but unfortunately, the festival did not take place,” said Mehran, a resident of Mazar-e-Sharif.
Taliban members at the Ministry of Information and Culture have not provided any further detail, except for announcing that they would arrange sport competitions, such as Buzkashi and Pahlavani (Afghan-version of wrestling), as well as cultural programs, including book reading and poetry.