"Not The End": Afghan Art Activist Defiant As Taliban Erase Kabul Murals

The images of workers rolling white paint over the art were deeply foreboding for Afghan activist Omaid Sharifi.

Afghan activist Omaid Sharifi's art collective spent seven years transforming stretches of Kabul's labyrinthine concrete blast walls with colourful murals -- then the Taliban marched in. Within weeks of the Islamists taking the capital, many of the street art pieces have been painted over, replaced by drab propaganda slogans as the Taliban reimpose their austere vision on Afghanistan. The images of workers rolling white paint over the art were deeply foreboding for Sharifi, whose ArtLords collective has created more than 2,200 murals across the country since 2014. "The image that comes to my mind is (the Taliban) putting a 'kaffan' over the city," he told AFP in a phone interview from the UAE on Monday, referring to the white shroud used to cover bodies for Islamic burials.