RASC News Agency: According to the U.S. State Department’s annual International Religious Freedom report, the rights of religious minorities in Afghanistan have been severely violated under Taliban rule, with society governed by their strict interpretation of Sharia law. The report, published on Wednesday, June 26, highlights the Taliban’s failure to protect minority religious sites and documents an increase in targeted attacks against these communities throughout 2023.
The Taliban have marginalized the Shia population, aiming to force them out of the country. The report details instances of killings, torture, forced relocations, and land seizures targeting the Hazara community in provinces such as Bamiyan, Daykundi, Wardak, Baghlan, Balkh, Kunduz, Badakhshan, Herat, Ghazni, Sar-e Pol, Kandahar, Urozgan, Takhar, and Samangan. Additionally, systematic attacks against Hazaras have persisted, including suicide bombings in Baghlan, an assault on a sports club in western Kabul, and a bus bombing in Kabul.
The Taliban have banned the teaching of Shia jurisprudence in all schools, including private institutions. Shia leaders have reported the exclusion of Shia clerics from the Taliban’s provincial councils and the dismissal of hundreds of Shia imams. The Taliban have also established madrassas with a distinct “jihadi” curriculum in ten provinces. The report notes the murder of a Salafi cleric in Kapisa last year and the emigration of thousands of Salafi followers over the past three years. Over 900 Sikh and Hindu citizens have left Afghanistan since the Taliban’s resurgence, with only six remaining to safeguard their sacred sites and texts.
Christian, Ahmadi Muslim, Bahai, Hindu, and Sikh communities are striving to remain inconspicuous and are seeking to leave the country. Church officials conveyed to the U.S. State Department that the Taliban aim to completely eradicate Christianity and other religious minorities from Afghanistan. In May, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom also reported that the state of religious freedom in Afghanistan under Taliban rule is dire.
