RASC News Agency: In a revealing and ideologically charged address, Khalid Hanafi, the Taliban’s Minister for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, invoked divine judgment to justify the group’s continued suppression of civil liberties, particularly those of women. Speaking at a private gathering an audio recording of which was recently released by his ministry Hanafi claimed that the Taliban’s two-decade insurgency was waged in pursuit of enforcing Sharia law, and that the martyrs of that conflict will hold them accountable on the Day of Judgment. “The world of disbelief chants about rights, rights, rights,” Hanafi declared, dismissing international norms of human rights. “But the rights that Islam has given to our women if I fail to uphold them, that is my sin. We must not forget that we fought for twenty years to establish Sharia, and on the Day of Judgment, the martyrs will be the first to question us.”
Calling for unwavering loyalty and discipline, Hanafi urged Taliban members to “wake up, act with resolve and unity,” and align themselves fully with the group’s rigid religious agenda. His remarks reflect an unwavering commitment to the Taliban’s hardline ideology one that systematically subordinates individual rights to the group’s authoritarian interpretation of Islam. Since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, the regime has engaged in an aggressive campaign of social regression, rolling back decades of hard-won progress in women’s rights, freedom of expression, and civil society development. Afghanistani women and girls have been the principal victims of this ideological regression. The Taliban have outlawed education for girls beyond the sixth grade, banned women from most forms of employment, and stripped them of their visibility in public life through increasingly draconian edicts.
These policies have sparked widespread condemnation from global human rights bodies, Islamic scholars, and governments around the world. Critics argue that the Taliban’s practices are not only incompatible with international human rights standards but also deviate sharply from the ethical and spiritual essence of Islam, which emphasizes justice, education, and compassion. The Taliban, however, remain deaf to such criticisms, clinging instead to an insular and patriarchal worldview that frames any opposition whether domestic or international as hostile to Islam. They have weaponized religion as a tool for authoritarian control, silencing dissent, criminalizing freedoms, and turning Afghanistan into a human rights black hole under the guise of “virtue.”
Khalid Hanafi’s recent remarks serve as yet another reminder of the regime’s moral intransigence. By invoking divine accountability as a shield against criticism, the Taliban aim to legitimize policies that have plunged Afghanistan into one of the world’s worst humanitarian and human rights crises. As Afghanistani citizens particularly women suffer under the weight of this theocratic repression, the international community faces a moral obligation not merely to condemn, but to intensify diplomatic, economic, and legal pressures on the Taliban. The future of an entire generation hinges on whether the world chooses to treat the regime’s abuses as a tragic inevitability or an urgent injustice that must be confronted.
