Over the past four years, under the banner of Sharia, the Taliban have publicly flogged hundreds of people on a range of charges, including extramarital relations, phone contact, and what they describe as the prevention of vice. At the same time, numerous reports reveal a stark contradiction. When commanders and fighters from within the group face accusations of sexual relations outside marriage, the Taliban often protect their own. Instead of enforcing the Sharia punishments they claim to uphold, they conceal these acts by imposing forced marriages.
This report focuses on the scheme of one Taliban member who used deception to trap a girl and then forced her into marriage. According to the report, the Taliban member acted in coordination with the Directorate for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Balkh province. He deliberately targeted the girl and then subjected her family to pressure and threats until they agreed to marry their daughter to him.
A source close to the family told the Hasht-e Subh Daily that, at the time, the girl’s mother was seriously ill and had traveled to Kabul with her husband and son for medical treatment. During their absence, a Taliban member who lived in the neighborhood took advantage of the situation. According to the source, this Taliban member’s son had developed an unhealthy interest in the girl and began plotting against her.
The source explained: “After the parents of [name withheld] left for Kabul, the girl remained friends with the daughter of one of the Taliban. One morning, the younger sister of that Taliban member came to their house and asked her to come along, saying her sister needed her. When the girl entered the house of her Taliban member’s sister, the Taliban member’s son contacted the Taliban Morality Police and accused the girl of having a relationship with him. After that, they took both of them to the Taliban Directorate for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice of the province.”
The source continued: “After the incident, officials contacted the girl’s family and told them they had detained their daughter with a boy. They demanded that the family come to the directorate immediately. The girl’s father had no choice but to travel late at night to Mazar-e Sharif and present himself at the Taliban Directorate for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. Believing his daughter had committed a serious wrongdoing, he agreed to marry her to the Taliban member’s son, but only on one condition, that he would take his daughter back to his own home after the marriage.”
The source added: “When the girl returned home, she was in an extremely fragile psychological state. She cut her veins so severely that her family rushed her to the hospital, where doctors managed to save her life. After immense effort, the family succeeded in annulling the forced marriage, but the pressure and trauma shattered them. Anyone who speaks with this family hears the same words. They wish they had never faced such a fate. The girl has physically improved, but emotionally and mentally she remains deeply wounded.”
The source continues: “They forced the marriage because they feared leaving the girl overnight at the Directorate for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. Spending a night there brings deep shame, and girls who stay there rarely return home unharmed. The girl said she could never accept such a scheme or live with such a man. She made it clear that she would rather accept death than live such a life. That belief drove her to attempt to end her life, but her family learned of it in time and saved her.”
The source emphasized that the family eventually managed to retrieve their daughter from the Taliban after paying bribes and high costs. Even so, the psychological and emotional abuse they endured has left them broken and humiliated. According to the source, the Taliban Directorate for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has become a center of corruption, a so-called Taliban marriage house, and a place where women and the children of the People of Afghanistan face extortion. He said tragic incidents occur there daily, while no institution or authority steps in to stop this abuse.
At the same time, a woman in Herat told the Hasht-e Subh Daily: “A few days ago, a woman sat beside me while speaking to someone on the phone. I realized a Taliban member had taken hold of her daughter, and the girl did not consent. The mother was desperate for advice and a solution, but she had nowhere to turn. I do not know who she was speaking with. I only understood that she wanted to save her daughter from the Taliban. She was clearly afraid and refused to share further details.”
These accounts follow earlier findings by the Hasht-e Subh Daily, which documented in multiple reports that the Taliban have forced girls into marriage across several provinces using violence and money. In Faryab province, sources previously said the Taliban intelligence chief in Chehel Gazi district reacted to a rejected marriage proposal by entering a girl’s home at night and detaining her brother. According to those sources, Habibullah, the Taliban intelligence chief in Chehel Gazi district, brutally tortured the brother after his arrest and warned that he would destroy the entire family if they refused to give him the girl.
This reality persists as the Taliban Law for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice grants the Morality Police sweeping authority to intrude into the most private areas of life. Under Article 24 of this law, the Taliban Morality Police also hold the power to discipline, imprison, and refer individuals to the group’s extrajudicial tribunals.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
فساد در سایه شریعت؛ در امر به معروف و نهی از منکر طالبان در بلخ چه میگذرد؟
