RASC News Agency: The “Telegraph” has reported that the Taliban are using women as “spies” to identify those who violate the group’s harsh “Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice” laws. On Monday, September 2nd, the newspaper, citing its sources, noted that women employed by the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice are tasked with monitoring female citizens on social media and in public places.
An unnamed official from the Women’s Department within the ministry told “The Telegraph” that these women identify accounts of those violating the Taliban’s rules on Instagram. The official added that the Taliban increasingly rely on women to track down those who disobey their stringent decrees. According to the report, some women have been forcibly assigned to this role, while others spy on their fellow citizens in exchange for payment. The senior Taliban member further revealed that some female prisoners in Taliban jails have been released on the condition that they report women who violate these laws.
Gul Nesa Mokhber, one of the women assigned by the Taliban’s ministry, stated that she daily identifies women who defy the Taliban’s draconian rules in clothing stores and crowded public spaces. According to Mokhber, the Taliban apprehend these women and take them to checkpoints. She remarked, “True freedom is when women stay at home, raise their children, serve their husbands, and need not worry about anything else.”
Recently, the Taliban’s leader approved the group’s Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice law, which controversially declares that even hearing a woman’s voice is “indecent.” This is not the first time reports have surfaced of the Taliban using women to identify other female violators. In addition to these female spies, the Taliban have created thousands of fake social media accounts with women’s names and photos to trap their opponents. The Taliban’s actions contradict the very essence of Islam, which explicitly prohibits spying on people’s private affairs.
