The rabab is an ancient traditional instrument found mainly in Afghanistan. It is a hollow piece of wood with a membrane across the opening. Nylon or metal strings are pulled across a bridge played with a bow. This tool is mentioned in old Afghan texts, but is not so common in today's Afghanistan. Like most other Afghan instruments, the rabab was considered un-Islamic and banned. Traditional instruments would never again become popular, even after the music ban was lifted. The history of musical development in Afghanistan mirrors that of instruments. Afghan music has been influenced by Radio Kabul, the Taliban and the Western impact on Afghan music. In a country whose history has been destroyed by war, Kabul Radio is one of the few surviving treasures. The Taliban destroyed the ancient Bamiyan Buddha stone and the warlords demolished the Kabul museum. Radio Kabul was the hub of popular, modern and innovative music for Afghanistan from the 1940s to 1978, when the civil war began. He was the treasure of Afghan music. There were more than 50,000 tapes that had to be wound and rewound one per year to prevent them from becoming brittle. William Reeve, BCC correspondent in Kabul, reported: “In room after room there were endless shelves of radio cassettes, all neatly cataloged on the backs of their boxes.” One section, Reeve said, was filled with historical tapes such as recorded speeches by former Afghan leaders. Another section was full of Afghan theater and musical performances, performed by favorite singers and artists. Mohammad Siddiq, the man in charge of looking after the archives, took care to save the tapes from the Taliban's rampage on Afghan music (2002).Rising......middle paper......an artists need of support as well as the Kabul archive to recover what little the country has left to identify with its ancestors. Works Cited Baily, John. "British ethnomusicologist: 'It's actually not correct to say that the Taliban banned music'" Interview by Abubakar Siddique. RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. RFE/RL, Inc, 22 June 2009. Web. 07 May 2014. .Courtney, David. "RABAB." Rabab. Np, 16 April 2014. Web. 07 May 2014. Contadino, Ben. “Taliban Beheaded 17 Captured Dancing to Music at Party.” The telegraph. Telegraph Media Group, 27 August 2012. Web. 05 May 2014. Qazizai, Fazelminallah. "Musical Afghanistan". - Music. OnIslam.net, November 20, 2011. Web. May 5, 2014. Reeve, William. "Kabul's Radio Treasure." BBC News. BBC, 16 May 2002. Web. 05 May 2014.