RASC News Agency: The Taliban Prime Minister’s Office has directed the Ministry of Interior to provide weapons and armored vehicles to officials of the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, significantly enhancing the authority and operational capabilities of the group’s morality enforcers. According to leaked documents, morality officers across Kabul and the provinces will now be authorized to carry firearms and use black-tinted armored vehicles. Thousands of official records published on the website “Talib Leaks” reveal that the request for these privileges was submitted by the Ministry of Virtue and Vice on May 2, 2024, and was subsequently approved by the Prime Minister’s Office on August 27, 2024, before being forwarded to the Ministry of Interior for implementation.
The Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has instructed all department heads and provincial offices to submit lists of personnel eligible for firearms permits to the Ministry of Interior. Provincial offices have also been ordered to coordinate with local police headquarters to process permits for both weapons and black-tinted armored vehicles. The Ministry of Interior, in response, issued directives to the Department of Disarmament (DIAG) under the General Directorate of Criminal Investigation and Security Affairs to facilitate the issuance of firearm and vehicle permits. The directive states that “the distribution of application forms and permits for carrying weapons and armored vehicles shall be handled through the Public Services Directorate, and upon completion of legal formalities, official firearm and armored vehicle permits shall be printed and distributed to the applicants.”
It remains unclear why the Taliban government is equipping its morality police a civil enforcement body with weapons and armored vehicles. Observers speculate that Taliban enforcers may require arms for self-protection or to impose their decrees with greater force. This move contradicts earlier Taliban claims that their morality enforcers would implement the Supreme Leader’s decrees through persuasion and guidance rather than coercion. The authorization to carry weapons and use armored vehicles is just one of several new privileges granted to the Ministry of Virtue and Vice, which serves as the ideological enforcement arm of the Taliban’s suppressive regime.
In a separate directive, the Administrative Office of the Taliban has ordered the Ministry of Public Health to ensure that morality police personnel receive medical treatment not only in civilian hospitals but also in military medical facilities. This latest decision further solidifies the central role of the morality police in enforcing the Taliban’s extremist agenda, reinforcing its position as a key institution in the regime’s broader apparatus of repression.
