Taliban morality police refuse to cooperate with UN mission

The ministry in charge of morals within the Taliban government in Afghanistan has announced that it will not cooperate with the United Nations mission in the country, calling it “opposing party”The move comes after the UN mission in the country said it was “concerned” by a law recently ratified by the Taliban authorities imposing new restrictions on women. This law for “promote virtue and prevent vice” stipulates, among other things, that women must ensure that, if they leave their homes, they cover their faces and bodies and that their voices are not heard. In a statement issued Thursday evening, the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (PVPV) warned that“Because of his propaganda, (he) will no longer provide any support and will no longer cooperate with the UNAMA (United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, editor’s note), which will be considered an opposing party”.

“We want international organizations, countries and individuals who have criticized the law to respect the religious values ​​of Muslims and refrain from such criticism and statements that insult the sacred values ​​of Islam.”adds the statement posted on social networks. Last week, after being banned from entering the country by the Taliban, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, had denounced a “step back”. Taliban government spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid had earlier said the ban was decided because Richard Bennett “was appointed to Afghanistan to spread propaganda”. “He is not someone we can trust”he had estimated.

“A worrying vision of the future of Afghanistan”

In late June, Richard Bennett condemned the Taliban’s request to exclude Afghan women and civil society representatives from a meeting organized by the United Nations in Qatar. Since their return to power in August 2021, the Taliban have returned to the austere interpretation of Islam that marked their first term as leader of the country (1996-2001) and have increased their liberticidal measures against women. The Taliban government remains officially unrecognized by the international community and is still demanding to occupy Afghanistan’s seat at the UN. The new 35-article law, published in the Official Gazette on July 31 and announced on August 21, potentially controls all aspects of Afghans’ social and private lives in an ultra-rigorous interpretation of Sharia, Islamic law.

The text provides for graduated sanctions in the event of infringement, ranging from verbal warnings to threats, fines and detentions of varying lengths, imposed by the morality police. The Manua declared itself “concerned” by the new law. It illustrates “a worrying vision of the future of Afghanistan, where morality inspectors have discretionary powers to threaten and arrest anyone based on broad and sometimes vague lists of offences”said Roza Otunbayeva, head of UNAMA, on Sunday. The European Union, for its part, warned that the law created “another obstacle to the normalization of relations” from Afghanistan with the 27.

Many elements of the law have already been in force informally since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, and women already bear the brunt of the restrictions described by the UN as«apartheid the genre»which have distanced them from public life. The law is “firmly rooted in Islamic teachings” which must be respected and understood, said Zabihullah Moujahid, spokesman for the Afghan government, in a statement released Monday evening. “To reject these laws without seeking to understand them is, in our opinion, an expression of arrogance.”he added, stressing that for a Muslim to criticize this law “could even lead to the decline of his faith”The Taliban government has consistently rejected international criticism, including condemnation of restrictions on women.