In Balkh, Taliban institutions, especially the Directorate for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, have become a living nightmare for women and girls. Fear, threats, and forced marriages shape every encounter. One such story is that of a girl and a boy who went to a restaurant for nothing more than a simple meal and ended up under arrest. Their families had no choice but to pay enormous sums of money to protect their children’s lives and preserve their honor from harsh social judgment. Those who have dealt directly with this Taliban institution say that attractive women are deliberately targeted, drawn into schemes of abuse, while Taliban officials and leaders exploit their power to impose relationships or force marriages.
The girl and the boy sat together in a restaurant in Mazar-e Sharif, the capital of Balkh province, unaware that Taliban agents from the Directorate for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice were watching them. As they shared a meal, they spoke quietly about a future they hoped to shape on their own. That moment ended abruptly with their arrest. Taliban Morality Police took the two young people to the Directorate for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice office and immediately contacted their families, ordering them to rush there and, under pressure, stand witness to forced marriages.
The Morality Police accused the girl and the boy of having a relationship outside of marriage. At the same time, they openly demanded money in exchange for their release. To free themselves and their daughter from the grip of the group, the girl’s family paid a large sum to the Taliban Morality Police. They sold nearly everything in their home to gather the money.
A woman familiar with the inner workings of this Taliban institution quietly approached the girl’s mother and spoke without hesitation. “Thank God your daughter was not beautiful,” she said. “Otherwise, tonight you would have gained a son-in-law. Any beautiful girl who enters this office, even attractive women who work here, faces punishment. That punishment comes either through paying money or through forced marriage to one of the staff members. This is a great catastrophe where, in the name of religion and Islam, people’s honor is bought and sold.”
She continued, “They know very well that people are so afraid of losing their honor that they do not even ask, during a marriage ceremony, how number wives their daughter will become. They only say, Do not let our honor be destroyed. Because of this fear, the burden always falls on the girl, and to them, it makes no difference whether the girl lives or dies.”
The boy who was arrested with the girl shared an even more disturbing account. He recalled seeing another man in the detention facility, crying uncontrollably. “I asked him why he was crying,” the boy said. “He told me that he had problems with his wife, and under the pressure of life, they argued often. When he beat his wife, her brothers brought him here. His wife was a beautiful and tall woman. When the Taliban saw her, they did not speak about reconciliation or solving the family’s problems. Instead, they forced a divorce and married her to the deputy head of the department or to one of the staff members. It has now been ten days, and I have no news of my children.”
Another woman, who saved her daughter from a Taliban-imposed forced marriage by paying a bribe, described a pattern she has seen repeatedly. She said that any woman who enters Taliban offices, especially the Directorate for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Balkh, and is attractive and well-presented, will not be left alone. Taliban set traps under any excuse. “From guards to department heads,” she said, “they all want to establish contact with women and get their phone numbers, so that in the next step, they can arrange a marriage.”
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
