KABUL, Afghanistan — Khalid Hanafi, the Taliban’s vice and virtue minister, said that university graduates should not view madrasa students with “humiliation and contempt.”
In an audio recording released by the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue, Hanafi stated: “Graduates of Kabul University, doctors, engineers, and specialists should not look down on a scholar who has graduated from a madrasa.” He added that students of Islamic seminaries, in turn, should not look down on those with higher education degrees.
His comments come as Afghanistan’s professional and academic community continues to grapple with the Taliban’s policies. Since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, many professionals and educated Afghans have fled the country, citing political repression, shrinking work opportunities, and ideological conflicts with the group.
Meanwhile, about two weeks ago, local sources confirmed to Amu TV that the Taliban had dismissed at least 16 university professors from Islamic faculties in the provinces of Ghazni, Bamyan, Logar, Panjshir, and Paktika. An official Taliban document obtained by Amu stated: “These changes have been made with the aim of improving and clarifying processes in educational institutions.”
Over the past three years, the Taliban have established thousands of religious and jihadist madrasas across Afghanistan. Documents obtained by Amu TV also reveal that the Taliban have distributed thousands of master’s degree certificates to madrasa graduates from Pakistan.
