Azadi Briefing

Welcome to The Azadi Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that unpacks the key issues in Afghanistan. To subscribe, click here.

I'm Abubakar Siddique, a senior correspondent at RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. Here's what I've been tracking and what I'm keeping an eye on in the days ahead.

The Key Issue

The Taliban has revealed that its notorious religious police detained more than 13,000 Afghans during the past year for violating the extremist group's morality laws.

The Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which oversees the religious police, said those detained had violated the group's strict Islamic dress code and gender segregation in society.

Other violations, the ministry said, included gambling, the use of illicit drugs, and playing or listening to music, which is banned.

Muhibullah Mukhlis, a ministry official, said on August 20 that the Taliban had "confiscated and destroyed" over 20,000 musical instruments and closed 25 bars across the predominately Muslim country in the past year.

He also added that nearly 300 Taliban members were fired from their jobs for trimming their beards, which is also banned.

Why It's Important: The Taliban's religious police have been accused of creating a "climate of fear and intimidation" in Afghanistan.

The force has publicly punished offenders, often violently. Men and women convicted of violating the Taliban's morality laws have been jailed or publicly flogged, often in fields or sports venues.

"We are terrified and cannot celebrate anything," said a resident of the northern province of Parwan, where the Taliban publicly destroyed confiscated musical instruments on August 20.

"If we celebrate, the Taliban's morality police beat and humiliate us," he told RFE/RL's Radio Azadi while requesting anonymity because of concerns over his safety.

What's Next: The Taliban's dreaded religious police are likely to remain a cornerstone of the extremist group's brutal rule.

This week, the Taliban's spiritual leader, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, issued a decree that expanded the powers of the religious police.

What To Keep An Eye On

The Taliban has banned UN's Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Richard Bennett from entering the country.

Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid on August 21 accused Bennett of providing "false" information about the situation in Afghanistan and spreading "propaganda."

Bennett called the ban "a step backward" and said it "sends a concerning signal" about the Taliban's engagement with the UN and the international community on human rights.

Bennett was appointed in 2022 to monitor Afghanistan's human rights situation. He has traveled to Afghanistan several times and pointed to grave human rights violations, especially against Afghan women and girls.

Afghan and international human rights campaigners have condemned the Taliban's decision.

Heather Barr, associate women's rights director at Human Rights Watch, said "the Taliban are giving up some of their last pretenses of wanting to look rights-respecting."

Why It's Important: While Bennett will still document rights abuses in Afghanistan, the ban will harm the Taliban's efforts to gain international recognition.

Despite increased international engagement with the Taliban-led government, Western nations will likely find it difficult to overlook the group's extensive rights abuses, including denying women most of their fundamental rights and carrying out extrajudicial killings as well as the torture and ill-treatment of detainees.

That's all from me for now.

Don't forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you have. You can always reach us at azadi.english@rferl.org

Until next time,

Abubakar Siddique

If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here. It will be sent to your inbox every Friday.

Welcome to The Azadi Briefing, an RFE/RL newsletter that unpacks the key issues in Afghanistan. To subscribe, click here.

I'm Abubakar Siddique, a senior correspondent at RFE/RL's Radio Azadi. Here's what I've been tracking and what I'm keeping an eye on in the days ahead.

The Key Issue

An Afghan press-freedom watchdog says media freedom continues to decline as the Taliban marks three years in power.

In a new report on August 13, the Afghanistan Journalist Center (AFJC) said the Taliban's brutal treatment of the media was on the rise.

Its government issued "new guidelines" to reign in the once vibrant Afghan press, which was already reeling from pressure to implement 14 detailed instructions the group had issued during the previous two years.

The report said that during the past year of Taliban rule, it decreed what kind of language and terminologies the Afghan print and electronic media should use.

As part of its growing restrictions, the group has banned photography and filming of all meetings in the southern province of Kandahar, where Taliban Supreme Leader Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada lives.

Hamid Obidi, the head of the AFJC, said the Taliban's three years in power had proved it doesn't believe "in a free press and the citizen's right to access free information."

The AFJC documented 181 cases of threats, detentions, and convictions of journalists from August 2023 to the present.

Exiled Afghan journalists in the West say the Taliban has detained more than 300 journalists during the past three years.

Why It's Important: The Taliban has attempted to systematically dismantle the freedoms previously enjoyed by the Afghan press because it sees it as a legacy of the fallen Afghan republic and its Western allies.

The Islamist group has not honored any of its early promises to allow freedom of the press. Instead, it wants Afghan journalists to “reorient their thinking,” according to the AFJC, whose report cites statements by senior Taliban officials.

Taliban actions speak much louder than its promises. Intimidation by its officials has forced hundreds of journalists into exile. Taliban restrictions or the loss of Western funding has forced scores of Afghan media outlets to shut down.

In order to deny Afghans access to the free flow of information, it has banned international broadcasters whose content in Pashto and Dari is widely popular. The Taliban has also denied visas to independent foreign correspondents.

What's Next: The Taliban has been quite successful in shaping a media environment inside Afghanistan that serves its government.

Its restrictions even prompt independent media outlets inside Afghanistan to self-censor and avoid critical reporting.

Waning international interest in Afghanistan and the lack of access to the country make in-depth reporting from the government very difficult.

All this has paved the way for the Taliban to replace journalism with propaganda.

What To Keep An Eye On

Ten major international nongovernmental aid groups have called for more Western donor engagement with the Taliban's unrecognized government.

CARE, the Danish Refugee Council, Save the Children International, and other groups have called on Western capitals to rethink their approach to the Taliban.

"Diplomatic engagement is crucial to creating an enabling environment in Afghanistan that will support upscaling international aid efforts to include development projects alongside emergency assistance," the NGOs said in a joint statement on August 13.

International donors have suspended most of their funding for Afghanistan over the Taliban's ban on most education and employment for women and its reportedly extensive human rights abuses.

The statement said the current "isolationist approach" of donor countries does not help alleviate the suffering of Afghans as they face one of the world's largest humanitarian crises.

More than half of Afghanistan's 40 million population needs humanitarian assistance, but funding for the crises is declining, with only 25 percent of the funds pledged for the current UN humanitarian appeal of more than $3 billion.

Why It's Important: The statement is part of a new trend that favors engagement over pressure to change the Taliban's behavior.

It is, however, not clear whether the Taliban will commit to reversing its extremist policies if its government is recognized and receives international assistance.

That's all from me for now.

Don't forget to send me any questions, comments, or tips that you have. You can always reach us at azadi.english@rferl.org

Until next time,

Abubakar Siddique

If you enjoyed this briefing and don't want to miss the next edition, subscribe here. It will be sent to your inbox every Friday.