Afghan folk singer Fawad Andarabi shot dead by Taliban

Afghan folk singer Fawad Andarabi was shot down by a Taliban fighter on Friday, in the Andarabi valley in the Baghlan province, which is 100km away from Kabul. Andarabi’s family has said that he was shot by the Taliban under ‘unclear circumstances.’

The Andarabi valley, after which Fawad was named, has seen protests against the Taliban since they took over Afghanistan, with some districts in the valley even coming under the control of militants opposed to the Talibans.

According to his son Jawad Andarabi, the Taliban had previously searched Andarabi’s home, and had even drunk tea with the musician. But something changed, as the Taliban shot him in the head in a farm on Friday.

“He was innocent, a singer who only was entertaining people,” his son told Associated Press.

His son also said that he wanted justice and that a local Taliban council had promised to punish his father’s killer. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that the insurgents would investigate the incident, and he had no other details on the killing.

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Andarabi played the ghichak, a bowed lute, and sang traditional songs about Afghanistan and its people. A video online showed him at one performance, sitting on a rug with the mountains of home surrounding him as he sang.

Fawad Andarabi’s killing comes as the United States is concluding its historic airlifting process ahead of its August 31 deadline, from the Kabul International Airport, which has been in a chaos since the Taliban took over Afghanistan more than two weeks ago. The Taliban has increased the security around the airport after an ISIS-K suicide attack killed over 180 people on Saturday.

Andarabi’s killing reinstilled fear in the minds of the Afghans that the Taliban may resort to their oppressive rule in the country after snatching the reins of Afghanistan from the elected government, even though the Taliban have said that their rule will not be an oppressive one.

(With inputs from Agencies)