KABUL — A Taliban-organized industrial exhibition in Kabul closed Sunday with a highly publicized display of portraits featuring senior Taliban leaders, including their interior minister Siraj Haqqani and their founder Mullah Omar, a move that drew scrutiny for its contradiction with the Taliban’s own prohibitions on visual depictions of living beings.
Held as part of “Industry Week,” the event also featured images of Taliban Defense Minister Mohammad Yaqoob Mujahid. Their portraits were exhibited alongside historical Afghan leaders such as King Amanullah Khan and former President Mohammad Daoud. Notably absent, however, were any images of former presidents Hamid Karzai and Ashraf Ghani.
The final day of the event was reportedly marked by tightened security measures. According to attendees, Taliban members at the venue allowed entry only to individuals with official press credentials and were actively monitoring the hall for journalists affiliated with Afghan media outlets based abroad.
One particular image of Sirajuddin Haqqani—labeled with the religious honorific “Khalifa” and set against a striking red background—attracted significant attention on social media, further fueling debate over the Taliban’s stance on visual representation.
The display stood in stark contrast to Taliban policies currently enforced in at least 13 provinces, where the Taliban have banned the publication and broadcast of images of living beings, including human figures, under its interpretation of Islamic injunctions. The prominent use of leader portraits at a state-sponsored event has therefore raised questions about the consistency—and motives—behind the policy.
Media watchdogs and press freedom advocates have warned that such restrictions pose growing challenges for journalists and are part of broader efforts by the Taliban to limit freedom of expression and control public discourse. The Afghanistan Journalists Center has previously cautioned that the bans on imagery, combined with increased surveillance and intimidation of reporters, severely hamper the public’s access to independent information.
Despite those concerns, the exhibition and its closing display appeared to signal the Taliban’s intent to further embed their leadership’s image into the country’s evolving national narrative.
