RASC News Agency: Local sources in Kabul have reported a series of coordinated raids carried out over the past two days by armed Taliban forces, accompanied by operatives from the so-called Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. The operations targeted several hotels and public gathering spaces across the capital, leading to the arbitrary detention of dozens of young men and women, including individuals from public streets and marketplaces. According to eyewitnesses, the Taliban conducted sweeping arrests in high-traffic areas such as Shahr-e-Naw, Kote Sangi, and Deh Afghanan. The number of individuals detained in these districts alone is said to exceed 100. Some of the arrested were taken from sidewalks and shopping areas and were forcibly transported to undisclosed locations, raising further alarm about their safety and well-being. One relative of a detained woman shared a statement on Facebook, writing:
“There is no legitimate reason for these arrests. They detained some for having trimmed beards, others for not wearing the hijab according to the Taliban’s standards. Some were beaten and arrested simply for smoking hookah. These are not laws; they are excuses for harassing the public.” While a handful of detainees were reportedly released after spending the night in custody and providing written guarantees from their families, dozens more, including male companions, remain imprisoned without due process. A video circulating on social media starkly illustrates the terror inflicted by the Taliban during these raids. The footage shows several terrified women surrounded by Taliban militants, visibly distressed and pleading for justice. One woman cries out:
“You’ve already barred us from schools, universities, and life itself what more do you want? Fear God!” As of now, the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has made no official statement clarifying the legal basis for these arrests or the charges levied against the detainees. Since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021, this so-called Ministry has become a notorious tool of repression, repeatedly accused of enforcing an extreme interpretation of Islamic law to suppress individual freedoms, particularly those of women. The repeated storming of hotels, restaurants, and public venues is widely perceived as part of a broader campaign to police social behavior, eliminate gender interaction, and impose the Taliban’s ideological worldview on Afghanistan’s urban population.
These assaults on basic civil liberties come at a time when Afghanistan’s women under Taliban rule have already been stripped of their most fundamental rights, including education, employment, freedom of movement, and access to public life. What little personal space remains is now under assault by state-sanctioned moral enforcers operating without legal checks or accountability. Unlike interpretations of Islamic ethics that are rooted in compassion, balance, and communal welfare, the Taliban’s doctrine of “promotion of virtue” has evolved into an authoritarian instrument of social control, used to enforce patriarchal dominance under the pretext of religion. According to religious scholars and legal experts, the group’s version of Islamic morality has no basis in legitimate jurisprudence or public interest, but rather stems from a rigid, male-centric ideology aimed at subjugating the population.
Over the past three years, numerous reports have emerged documenting Taliban enforcers arbitrarily arresting, harassing, and humiliating citizens particularly women and youth for minor or invented infractions, such as dining in mixed company or wearing clothing deemed “improper.” Incidents of forced home inspections and interrogations in the streets have only reinforced the atmosphere of fear and lawlessness. In the absence of an independent judiciary, free media, or functional oversight mechanisms, Taliban morality police have effectively become judges, juries, and executioners operating beyond the reach of any legal framework or public accountability. As a result, citizens especially women are forced to live under a constant cloud of anxiety, insecurity, and psychological trauma.
Ultimately, the Taliban’s so-called “Virtue and Vice” law functions not as a religious safeguard but as a strategic weapon to tighten the regime’s grip on power. Far from upholding Islamic values, it serves as a mechanism for controlling public space, suppressing dissent, and erasing women from society a brutal manifestation of gender apartheid cloaked in the language of piety.
