Portugal on Monday welcomed 273 Afghan refugees, including students and teachers, from a national music school who had fled Afghanistan to escape Taliban reprisals.
The Taliban banned music under their strict interpretation of Islamic law during their first stint in power between 1996 and 2001, and there are fears they could reinstate similarly draconian rules after they regained power in August.
The musicians fled Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, for Qatar in October before being resettled in Portugal.
Photo: AP
Afghanistan National Institute of Music director Ahmad Naser Sarmast said reopening his school was a key objective.
“The commitment is to reopen this school. We have a mission [for the] music of Afghanistan to continue,” he said.
“Thank you to [the] international community. You all save our lives,” music student Shogula Safi said as she arrived at a military airport in Portugal’s capital, Lisbon.
Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa welcomed the news on Twitter, saying the “students, young women, young men and their relatives will have the opportunity to live and resume their studies in Portugal.”
“I’m very happy because I see my friends smiling. We can continue playing music. It makes me really happy,” said Murtaza Mahammadi, a musician from the institute.
Portugal has so far taken 764 mostly young Afghan refugees, government figures showed.
It welcomed dozens of players from Afghanistan’s national women’s soccer team and their families in October.
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