KABUL/BAMIYAN, Afghanistan -- Afghan street artist Milad Mohammadi has turned many grey walls in Kabul into messages of peace or remembrance. But soon after the Taliban takeover in August he realized he would have to put the brush down: There was no space for the arts in the new regime's strict view of Islam -- or in its empty pockets.
"My murals are against the rules of the Taliban," the deaf painter says in sign language, helped by a translator. "So now I don't have much work. I only draw portraits in pencil for private people who ask me."
