Afghanistan legislative committee proposes to ban video games, other forms of entertainment

Despite all the flak that video games have been receiving lately, we still have much to be thankful for. How so? Here’s one reason: an Afghanistan legislative committee has proposed a bill banning various things for its citizens, and video games are on the list – all video games. More on this proposal in the full article after the jump.

If an Afghanistan legislative committee gets its way, US Marines will probably be the only ones playing video games in Afghanistan. Why, you ask? Because the very same committee has drafted a bill that seeks to impose strict codes of morality on its citizens. That includes banning a lot of things that Afghan people consider to be entertainment – even video games.

The draft still needs to have two things before it can become a law: the approval of both chambers of parliament and the signature of President Hamid Karzai. The draft of the bill reportedly outlaws the following:

• women wearing make-up in public
• women dancers performing during concerts, events, or on TV
• young boys wearing female fashions (bracelets, necklaces, hair-bands and “feminist dresses”)
• Indian soap opera dramas on private television networks
• video games
• dog and bird-fighting
• pigeon-flying
• billiards
• loud music during wedding parties (as well as both sexes congregating during such parties)

If the proposals are passed, violators could be fined anywhere from 500 to 5,000 Afghanis (approximately anywhere from US$ 10 to US$ 104). It sure puts the campaign against violent video games in perspective, doesn’t it?