RASC News Agency: The Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has recently issued a controversial directive to the Union of Fuel Stations across Kabul and other Afghanistan’s provinces, mandating that every fuel tanker must be equipped with a mosque. This decree accompanies strict orders to ensure fair fuel pricing, eradicate the sale of counterfeit fuel, and rigorously enforce compliance with standardized volume measurements. Since their return to power, the Taliban regime has obsessively prioritized the proliferation of religious infrastructure, allocating substantial portions of Afghanistan’s limited budget toward the construction of thousands of mosques nationwide. In 2023, the Taliban cabinet formally instructed the Ministry of Public Works to establish a mosque every hundred kilometers along the country’s highways a symbolic gesture that starkly contrasts with the nation’s dire economic and humanitarian realities.
The Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice exercises sweeping authority that extends far beyond conventional religious oversight. Its enforcers, colloquially known as morality police or “muta’been,” infiltrate multiple facets of public and private life. Reports indicate their intrusive interventions encompass scrutiny over medical prescriptions, business operations including shops and street vendors, and even personal behavior, severely curtailing individual freedoms under the guise of moral enforcement. This latest mandate to integrate mosques into fuel tankers epitomizes the Taliban’s fixation on religious symbolism and ideological domination, prioritizing superficial displays of piety over pragmatic governance and urgent development. Such policies divert precious resources from Afghanistan’s pressing needs including poverty alleviation, infrastructure repair, and essential public services thereby deepening the country’s multifaceted crises.
Human rights organizations and civil society advocates have condemned these measures as emblematic of the Taliban’s relentless repression and systemic overreach. The regime’s stringent imposition of religious conformity exacerbates social fragmentation and economic stagnation, disproportionately impacting vulnerable groups such as women, ethnic minorities, and youth, whose aspirations for education, employment, and civic participation are continually stifled. As the Taliban entrench their theocratic governance through expanding regulatory controls and symbolic gestures, Afghanistan’s prospects for social progress, inclusive governance, and sustainable development grow increasingly precarious. The regime’s prioritization of dogma over the fundamental welfare of its citizens undermines any hope for national reconciliation and long-term stability.
