The Taliban instituted many restrictions on books and printed materials.
Pick one of the following questions. Answer in about 50-75 words. Due 6 p.m. Sunday.
1. How did these policies affect Sultan Khan?
2. What impact did they have on education in Afghanistan?
3. How were things changing during the time the author spent with the bookseller's family?
The main way the Taliban’s restrictions on books and printed materials affected Sultan Khan’s business was that he had to cover or scribble over any images of living things in his books. Though the Taliban had actually banned the sale and possession of all heretical texts, Sultan had been able to sidestep that law because the Taliban soldiers were illiterate and couldn’t decipher anything from the books except pictures.
ReplyDeleteWith the Taliban restriction on books, education surely suffered. Education relies primarily on books. Without them people would go poorly educated. It’s possible to be taught from someone who knows a lot about the field he or she is professing, but humans make mistakes. In The Bookseller of Kabul, it actually mentions how soldiers took some books on Afghanistan’s history. Without them it would very hard to learn all the facts held in the pages.
ReplyDeleteBecause the Taliban banned pictures, they burned many of Sultan Khan's books and closed his shop. This policy affected his business. However, the Taliban policy that most likely affected Sultan Khan the most was the ban of history books, scientific publications, novels and poetry. Collecting and selling these books were Sultan Khan's passion. He believed strongly in preserving Afghanistan's history through literature, so much so that he was willing to go to jail instead of giving into these suppressive policies.
ReplyDeleteThe Taliban banned all representations of living things and burned many of Sultan Khan’s books containing "heathen" pictures, but the ultimate irony of this is while the Taliban destroyed all of the engraved images, they failed to see openly heretical writings right in front of their faces. The religious police they had sent were illiterate, unable even to read the book the Taliban so cherished: the Koran. The destruction of books, along with many other of Afghanistan’s culturally significant artifacts, is undoubtedly why, under the Taliban, Afghanistan experienced a “dark age” of education.
ReplyDeleteThe education in Afghanistan obviously suffered severely from the lack of books. Through the book, it is evident that there is little emphasis placed on education, and the Taliban worsened the situation dramatically by collecting and burning the majority of books that were available for schoolchildren to read and study. The poor education system undoubtedly has led to many more hardships than those books could have ever caused.
ReplyDeleteThe Taliban's banning of historical documents, periodicals, novels, and poems affected Sultan Khan's business and his life. Sultan's entire life was based on books. When the government destroyed and prohibited many of these texts, Sultan's bookshop suffered greatly. However, Sultan's love for literature drove him to continue to sell books illegally, and his drive ultimately led to him ending up in jail. This changed the way he lived his life and ran his shop.
ReplyDeleteSultan Khan’s entire way of life was altered by the Taliban’s sweeping bans on books. Khan had to essentially operate as some sort of undercover agent just to continue doing what he loved, and he was eventually caught, landing him in a prison. The Taliban’s ignorance was actually his saving grace for a time; their inability to read allowed him to continue dispersing information so long as he destroyed any images in his books.
ReplyDeleteEducation was one of the main things affected by the strict Shari'a law imposed by the Taliban. For one thing, the education was extremely indoctrinated. Children learned arithmetic with kalashnikovs and learned the alphabet with religious infused sentences such as "I is for Israel, our enemy." Another aspect of the education system affected by the Taliban's regime was their refusal to allow women to be educated. This law has helped to account for many of the low social indicators the country receives such as literacy, health care, etc.
ReplyDeleteBy purging Afganistan of printed materials, the Taliban dealt a crippling blow to the education system in the country. Destroyig mounds of books and other publications, the terrorist regime eliminated one of the only ways that Afgani citizens could learn anything about the world outside of their own. Schools suffered as well; without the proper texts, students were unable to partake in any sort of formal education. Following the destruction of so many books, teachers lost their jobs, schcools shut down, and the young, school-age generation of Afganis were denied the opportunity to gain knowledge vital to the future progression of their nation.
ReplyDeleteSultan Khan is a man who takes extreme pride in his books; in fact, they mean more than family to him (he banished his brother from the family for refusing to work for his bookshop). The Taliban’s strict policies stripped Sultan of this pride. By making him hide his books and lend them to friends to hide all across the city, he could no longer outwardly display his love for books.
ReplyDeleteThe Taliban placed many restrictions on books that affected Sultan. Sultan had to cover up any pictures of living beings in or on his books. He also had to keep many books hidden. When The Taliban discovered some of the books in his store, he was forced to endure jail. Through his sufferings, Sultan remained convinced in the importance of books.
ReplyDeleteThe Taliban banned all kinds of books from history to picture books. Sultan Khan had his shop shut down, but this was not the most significant impact the policies had on him, as he was also arrested on three different occasions, which not only took him away from the shop but his family as well. As seen, the Taliban policies affected Sultan Khan on many different levels, however he remained steadfast in his passion of running a book shop.
ReplyDeleteThe progression of education in Afghanistan was definitely hindered by the Taliban’s actions. Although not the only way of learning, reading is greatly needed and is very essential. Without literature, knowledge becomes dispersed through vocal teachings, and as these educational stories are passed around, they are bound to change. This greatly affected the younger generations, because they were denied the truth that educational literature provided.
ReplyDeleteWith the banning and restrictions on publications, the education of the community will quickly become uneducated. In fear of this, Sultan Kahn tries selling publications with pictures covered or drawn over. However, some of his books are taken and burned because of the restrictions that were put in place, and he also spent time in jail selling the books that were restricted by the government.
ReplyDelete