RASC News Agency: Reports from Herat province in western Afghanistan indicate that the cultural or media section of the Taliban intelligence apparatus in this province is managed by underage individuals. A credible source in Herat province, speaking on condition of anonymity to protect their identity, informed the RASC News Agency on Sunday, Feb 18, that individuals under the age of 20 within the Taliban group have been relocated to the cultural section of their intelligence unit and oversee its affairs. The source notes that these underage individuals managing the media arm of the Taliban intelligence apparatus lack sufficient literacy skills.
According to the source, the Taliban group in this section lacks even basic reading and writing abilities to disseminate firsthand news to the public. The source adds that most of the news produced by this entity is prepared and organized by individuals closely associated with the group members. Meanwhile, Farooq Hamidi, a civil activist in Herat province, stated to the RASC News Agency that besides the Taliban’s intelligence apparatus in this province, most offices within the group lack educated and qualified individuals. He emphasized that the Taliban group is only skilled in warfare, and that too, only when a country supports members of this group.
Hamidi underscores that if a calculation were made, only five percent of Taliban members in Herat province possess adequate literacy skills to express themselves in a legitimate and principled manner. He believes that with the existence of such individuals, the country is increasingly pushed towards instability and injustice. However, Jabar Gholami, a knowledgeable figure in western Afghanistan, confirms that all educated and professional individuals have left the country after the Taliban seized power, and those replacing them are barely literate enough to read and write.
According to him, if the Taliban were to truly gather all educated Afghanistanis who are the real representatives of Afghanistan and utilize their capabilities, the dire situation faced by Afghanistani youth in foreign countries would not arise. On the other hand, Habibullah Dawoodzadah, a university professor in Afghanistan, informed the RASC News Agency that one of the reasons the Taliban leadership appoints illiterate or semi-literate individuals to various positions such as chiefs, directors, and other departments is because of their commitment to their obligations to the families of those killed during this period.
He expresses that the Taliban leaders value their illiterate individuals more than thousands of educated individuals who hold master’s and doctoral degrees. According to him, the Taliban currently consider their own people better than all members of society, and the emergence of this issue becomes the focal point surrounding the overall situation of the country. Taliban officials have not commented on this matter. It is said that the oppression carried out by Taliban forces against other Afghanistan ethnicities every day is unprecedented in the world.
