Khalid Hanafi, Taliban’s minister the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, who spoke at a ceremony in Kabul where filming was banned, called for what he described as an “ideological struggle” against Western thought, signaling a continued hardening of the Taliban’s cultural and religious stance.
Hanafi, whose ministry has been responsible for implementing Taliban leader’s most restrictive edicts against women, claimed that confronting Western “propaganda” should be a national and religious duty. He emphasized the need to counter these ideas through religious outreach and efforts to “reform public consciousness.”
“You are the people of the pen and intellect,” Hanafi told ministry staff. “Today, there is an ideological and propaganda war taking place. Therefore, combating Western influence through intellectual engagement and public education is the religious responsibility of scholars and thinkers.”
Hanafi, a controversial figure within the Taliban leadership, made the remarks during an internal meeting with ministry officials, underscoring the movement’s longstanding distrust of Western values and media narratives. His statements align with the group’s broader crackdown on what it considers foreign or secular ideologies.
His comments come as the Taliban expand religious programming within state institutions. According to two government employees who spoke to Amu Television on the condition of anonymity, civil servants are being compelled to attend weekly religious sessions organized by the ministry.
Sharifullah Haqqani, a senior official with the Ministry of Hajj and Religious Affairs, said the goal of these programs is to promote moral education and religious commitment among public workers.
But many Afghans view the efforts as coercive. Critics accuse the Taliban of using religion to impose their ideological views and suppress alternative perspectives. In Kabul and other cities, residents have expressed frustration over the mandatory nature of these religious programs.
Earlier this year, sources told Amu that the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue had also begun administering religious exams for employees in various government offices. Participation was reportedly compulsory, and the questions were based entirely on the Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence, the legal tradition the Taliban enforce nationwide.
