Afghanistan National Institute of Music

Soon after the Taliban’s initial withdrawal in 2001, Dr. Ahmad Sarmast founded the Afghanistan National Institute of Music (ANIM) in Kabul, and against all odds, a global phenomenon was born. Tirelessly working to reverse years of Taliban efforts to eradicate a glorious centuries-old musical culture, Sarmast and his unrelenting teachers created a school offering lessons to disadvantaged children including orphans and girls. Not even a suicide bomber during a student concert, in which Sarmast was seriously wounded, or the Taliban’s decree banning music entirely and forbidding expression by women, could silence ANIM, now continuing its mission from exile in Portugal. Their world tours have included sold out shows at the Kennedy Center and Carnegie Hall.