# Painting on the wall in Ashraf Ghani's office? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 17, 2021, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/painting-on-the-wall-in-ashraf-ghanis-office/948976 "2021-08-17T00:06:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fish\_Cheer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fish_cheer/32/17179_2.png) [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/painting-on-the-wall-in-ashraf-ghanis-office/948976/1 "2021-08-17T00:06:32Z")
What is the name of the painting seen in the background in [these](https://nypost.com/2021/08/15/taliban-assumes-control-of-afghanistan-reports/) recent news photos of the Taliban taking over the presidential palace? (scroll down for a better view) What scene is depicted in the painting? I thought the Taliban didn’t like that sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![blue\_infinity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_infinity/32/2817_2.png) [@blue\_infinity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blue_infinity)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/painting-on-the-wall-in-ashraf-ghanis-office/948976/2 "2021-08-17T02:34:10Z")
I believe that is the “Coronation of Ahmad Shah Durrani”, founder of modern Afghanistan. Here is a different version of the scene: [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4e/Coronation_of_Ahmad_Shah_Durrani_in_1747_by_Breshna.jpg/500px-Coronation_of_Ahmad_Shah_Durrani_in_1747_by_Breshna.jpg) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4e/Coronation_of_Ahmad_Shah_Durrani_in_1747_by_Breshna.jpg/500px-Coronation_of_Ahmad_Shah_Durrani_in_1747_by_Breshna.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Fish\_Cheer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fish_cheer/32/17179_2.png) [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/painting-on-the-wall-in-ashraf-ghanis-office/948976/3 "2021-08-17T04:19:33Z")
Yes, that must be it! Thank you! On one hand, I understand why they chose to be photographed in front of it, but on the other hand I don’t understand how this painting does not violate the prohibition of depictions of the living. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/painting-on-the-wall-in-ashraf-ghanis-office/948976/4 "2021-08-17T11:59:32Z")
Give them a hot minute. They literally just conquered a country. They’ll get around to redecorating eventually. A bit more seriously, Islam doesn’t exactly have an absolute ban on depictions of human beings. Idolatry is strongly condemned. And historically, those prohibitions have often been read as banning any sort of depiction of human beings. But not universally. In Persia and further east, in many periods, depictions of human beings in artwork was actually common. I don’t know about the Taliban’s specific views on representational art to know how they would view a painting like that. I’d suspect they’d fall on the iconoclastic extreme, but I’m not entirely sure they’d have a religious objection to a painting of a historical event. ---
**Author:** ![saucywench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@saucywench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saucywench)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/painting-on-the-wall-in-ashraf-ghanis-office/948976/5 "2021-08-17T16:40:47Z")
You’re not entirely sure they’d have a religious objection to a painting of an historical event? Sure they will! There are human images depicted in that historical painting. “Afghanistan is ruled by an Islamic group, the Taliban, that severely enforces its strict interpretation of the Islamic ban on **human images** and idols, which are viewed as an insult to God.” ---
**Author:** ![saucywench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@saucywench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saucywench)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/painting-on-the-wall-in-ashraf-ghanis-office/948976/6 "2021-08-17T16:43:42Z")
Fish Cheer (OP) - You are absolutely right, the Taliban does not like that sort of thing. gdave may be right about the redecorating thing. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/painting-on-the-wall-in-ashraf-ghanis-office/948976/7 "2021-08-17T16:44:41Z")
Wouldn’t the fact that they’re posing for photographs violate their prohibition on depictions of humans? ---
**Author:** ![eschrodinger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschrodinger/32/122_2.png) [@eschrodinger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschrodinger)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/painting-on-the-wall-in-ashraf-ghanis-office/948976/8 "2021-08-17T16:47:45Z")
There was a tremendous loss of artwork due to Taliban destruction of museums, art, and cultural artifacts, such as dynamiting the Buddas of Bamiyan. > **[Destruction of art in Afghanistan](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destruction_of_art_in_Afghanistan)** > > Pages for logged out editors learn more > > > Afghanistan is uniquely situated as a throughway of cultures throughout its history due to it geographic placement in South Asia. Afghanistan's location lends porous borders to trade routes between the East and West, while the Silk Road providing a vector for Buddhism and Hellenistic culture and even Egyptian influences from the west, renders an amalgamation of culture and art. Perpetual invasion and conflict has rendered a cyclic continuum of re... ---
**Author:** ![mikecurtis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikecurtis/32/3284_2.png) [@mikecurtis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mikecurtis)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/painting-on-the-wall-in-ashraf-ghanis-office/948976/9 "2021-08-17T17:02:45Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > I don’t know about the Taliban’s specific views on representational art Well, the locals are not taking any chances… > **[Ads depicting women ‘painted over’ after Taliban enters Kabul](https://www.independent.co.uk/asia/south-asia/afghanistan-taliban-women-rights-adverts-b1902922.html)** > > Man seen covering images of women in wedding dresses outside beauty salon despite claim militant group ‘will respect rights of women’ ---
**Author:** ![Fish\_Cheer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fish_cheer/32/17179_2.png) [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/painting-on-the-wall-in-ashraf-ghanis-office/948976/10 "2021-08-17T19:29:34Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > Wouldn’t the fact that they’re posing for photographs violate their prohibition on depictions of humans? You know, I was wondering the same thing. Not sure how that works. ---
**Author:** ![saucywench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@saucywench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saucywench)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2021, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/painting-on-the-wall-in-ashraf-ghanis-office/948976/11 "2021-08-17T19:49:03Z")
I’m having trouble finding much info on why the Taliban is suddenly “okay” with photographs. Found this… > **[Taliban selfies: Why militants posed for photos in Kunduz](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-34387854)** > > How the Taliban's capture of the Afghan city of Kunduz was documented on social media by Taliban fighters, residents and journalists. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2021, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/painting-on-the-wall-in-ashraf-ghanis-office/948976/12 "2021-08-18T13:52:02Z")
Yeah, give them time. When they get their feet under the table they can turn their attention to re-starting their “who can be most hard-line Islamic?” competition. I heard there was a very high standard the last time it was held. I think a ceremonial burning of that and other paintings will form the basis of the preliminary rounds. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2021, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/painting-on-the-wall-in-ashraf-ghanis-office/948976/13 "2021-08-19T16:12:45Z")
They are not a monolithic entity. Even last time (when they were much more centralised than now), it really depended on the whims of the local commanders. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2021, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/painting-on-the-wall-in-ashraf-ghanis-office/948976/14 "2021-08-25T16:06:00Z")
> [@mikecurtis](#): > > Well, the locals are not taking any chances… I think that’s more based on the prohibitions on depicting naked females - that is, females with their faces or head uncovered. that was a beauty salon and did wedding dress sales. That whitewashing eliminates any depictions of humans is a bonus.