RASC News Agency: Local sources from Takhar province report that Taliban members enforcing religious decrees conducted a religious test on employees of their administration, coercing 10 individuals into reciting the Shahada. Sources informed the media on Thursday, Mar 7, that a group of Taliban morality police officers visited the Finance administration office in Takhar yesterday to assess the beliefs of the employees. After administering a religious test, they compelled some of them to recite the Shahada.
According to sources, those forced by the Taliban to recite the Shahada had previous collaborations with foreign institutions, hence they were compelled to recite the Shahada. This comes as the Taliban regard former government employees and many Afghanistani citizens critical of their regime as irreligious, and their beliefs as anti-Islamic. Therefore, over the past two years, they have repeatedly forced individuals to recite the Shahada or labeled non-Muslims in certain cases.
In the latest incident, a senior Taliban figure has branded dissenters against their regime as apostates, and some members of the group have stated that religion does not permit criticism of the Taliban regime.