The Taliban continue to implement extensive prohibitions against the country’s citizens, particularly the complete deprivation of women from all spheres of collective life. Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, this group’s Minister for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, has once again ordered Taliban Morality Police to prepare for more extensive suppression and the implementation of stricter prohibitions. Several women and girls have described Hanafi’s recent statements as an all-out war against the lives of women and men in the country, saying that this group wants to return Afghanistan to the medieval era.
While the Taliban have eliminated nearly all areas of women’s presence from society in Afghanistan, this group’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice still sees itself in a warlike position against the people. Khalid Hanafi, the Taliban’s Minister for the Propagation of Virtue, addressing this group’s Morality Police, said: “If you are doing the work of propagation of virtue and prevention of vice, gird your loins. Assume that from morning to evening, the entire world, the entire nation of Afghanistan, common people and elites, are cursing us.”
These statements are made while women are now deprived of education, work, sports, travel, and even the presence in parks. Some citizens, referring to the Taliban’s extensive restrictions, ask: Against whom are the Taliban now girding their loins?
The policies of the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which are apparently formulated for the “moral guidance” of society, have practically become a tool for psychological, social, and ideological pressure on citizens. Now that women have been sidelined from the public sphere, these pressures have expanded and spread to men, youth, businessmen, drivers, and even independent clergy.
Sohaila (pseudonym), a citizen, says: “Since the Taliban’s propagation of virtue and prevention of vice decrees have always been about women, this girding of loins is actually the removal of women from the smallest places where they still have presence and raise their voices. The Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice is the open enemy of Afghanistan’s women. Every sign of women’s natural life in Afghanistan is a threat to the Taliban that must be suppressed. We are practically fighting for things that others have had at their disposal since birth. This girding of loins means stricter restrictions, means suppressing every sign of modern and free life.”
She adds: “According to the Taliban, foreigners are not in Afghanistan now for them to fight with, and to keep their Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice standing, they must find a new subject to fight with; and that subject is women. When they say ‘gird your loins,’ it means enmity with people’s everyday life itself: joy, art, recreation, freedom, and social relations.”
Soraya, who has the experience of four years of life under Taliban rule, says: “The Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, from the time of its creation until now, has had the duty to make the living space of Afghanistan’s citizens increasingly narrower. The Taliban had girded their loins from the very beginning to take away happiness, especially from women, and have deprived women of any kind of freedom, even the right to breathe freely.”
She continues, “Now that they have announced this order again, it means they want to implement it more firmly, meaning they want to increase restrictions and put people’s lives under more severe pressure. The Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice monitors even the smallest details of people’s private lives, from smartphones to men’s beards and women’s veils. There are no more restrictions than this, or if there are, they will only become more stringent.”
Zohra (pseudonym) says: “Although the Taliban know well that people hate them and their actions are unacceptable, they continue on the same wrong path. They understand that their wrong and oppressive policies have brought people to frustration; it’s natural that when a person can do nothing, they curse. But the problem is that their understanding only goes this far; they know they hear curses, but they don’t understand why. This shows how much they have fallen into ignorance and self-importance.”
Forouhar (pseudonym), one of the girls in Herat, says: “The behavior of the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice toward women is strict, threatening, and frightening. Even if they have nothing to say, seeing them has a strange fear and terror that, unconsciously, as a woman, I try to arrange my hijab and, with my eyes down and head lowered, get away from them as quickly as possible. When they react to women in some manner, it’s as if they are the only rulers on earth, and they suppress women and girls as much as they have power.”
This Herat resident adds: “They think women are hateful and corrupt beings of society who cause them to sin, and society will go toward corruption if they have an active presence, while each of them is pursuing taking four wives.”
Meanwhile, a number of the country’s citizens say that Khalid Hanafi’s statements are not just religious advice, but a kind of war readiness for agents who are stationed in streets, markets, and public places to suppress whatever they consider “un-Islamic.” According to them, “girding loins” is evocative of violence, fanaticism, and the coercive implementation of laws.
Tawhid, another citizen, says that despite widespread fear of the Taliban, people no longer have control over their clothing, way of walking, and lifestyle, but this group still imagines that restrictions are not enough and they must make people’s lives even more hellish than this. According to him, the order to “gird loins” means that people’s times will become even darker and narrower than the current situation.
These concerns are raised while local sources from various districts of Khost province have reported that Morality Police of the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice have closed shops that sold women’s items and accessories. Sources said on Tuesday, August 26, 2025, that these shops have been blocked in Gurbuz district and several other areas. According to these sources, the Taliban Morality Police have warned shopkeepers that selling goods to women is prohibited. Sources also add that in this province, new restrictions have also been imposed on women’s going out, wandering, and shopping.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
هشدار تازه طالبان؛ محتسبان کمرها را برای سرکوب بیشتر بستهاند
