Religious freedom in Afghanistan has plummeted to dire lows, with women and religious minorities bearing the brunt of a draconian morality law.
Newsroom (19/08/2025, Gaudium Press ) Four years after the Taliban’s return to power, religious freedom in Afghanistan has plummeted to dire lows, with women and religious minorities bearing the brunt of a draconian morality law, according to a scathing report released by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) on August 15, 2025.
The USCIRF’s report, examining the Taliban’s Law on the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice one year after its enactment in August 2024, paints a grim picture of systematic repression. “Religious freedom conditions in Afghanistan continue to decline dramatically under Taliban rule,” the report states, describing the law as a tool for the “systematic and overt erasure of religious freedom” that facilitates the oppression of religious minorities and women.
The morality law, comprising 35 articles, enforces the Taliban’s rigid interpretation of Sunni Islam and sharia law, granting authorities sweeping powers to arrest, detain, and monitor Afghans for perceived violations. Among its most alarming provisions is the criminalization of any religion other than Sunni Islam. “Non-Muslims are forced to practice in secret or risk arrest and torture,” the USCIRF notes, citing reports of heightened surveillance, arbitrary detentions, forced conversions, physical assaults, death threats, and torture.
The report quotes Khalid Hanafi, the Taliban’s minister for the propagation of virtue and prevention of vice, who branded Hindus, Jews, Christians, and Sikhs as “worse than four-legged animals” for holding beliefs contrary to sharia and the Quran. Such rhetoric underscores the law’s intent to marginalize religious minorities, including Ismaili Muslims, Christians, and Hazaras, who face targeted persecution. A U.N. report cited by USCIRF details the forced conversion of approximately 50 Ismaili Muslims and the killing of an Ismaili man in Badakhshan Province, who was “severely tortured prior to his death.” The commission further notes that individuals’ ethnic or religious identities, particularly Christians and Hazaras, often dictate the severity of torture while in Taliban custody.
Women, regardless of faith, face unprecedented restrictions under the morality law. The legislation mandates full-body and facial coverings and prohibits women from leaving home without a male guardian. In a particularly dehumanizing clause, the law deems women’s voices “intimate” and bans them from speaking, singing, or reciting the Quran in public. “The morality law disproportionately affects Afghan women and girls,” the USCIRF states, compounding existing barriers such as the ongoing ban on education for girls beyond age 12. This dual assault of educational exclusion and restrictive morality laws has effectively erased women’s participation in public life, including religious expression.
The report highlights the plight of Afghan widows, who face significant obstacles under the male guardianship requirement, particularly those without male relatives. “The requirement of a male guardian, reinforced under the morality law, has created significant barriers for Afghan women,” the USCIRF writes, noting the law’s devastating impact on their autonomy and access to basic rights.
Enforcement of the morality law falls to the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, reestablished in 2021 to oversee societal reform. The ministry employs approximately 3,330 male enforcers across 28 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces, tasked with implementing the law’s harsh provisions. Tactics include arbitrary arrests, physical assaults, and forced conversions, creating an atmosphere of fear and control.
The USCIRF’s findings underscore a broader erosion of human rights under Taliban rule, with the morality law serving as a cornerstone of its repressive agenda. By codifying discrimination and enforcing compliance through violence, the Taliban has not only stifled religious freedom but also entrenched systemic gender and minority oppression, leaving little room for dissent or diversity in Afghanistan’s increasingly isolated society.
- Raju Hasmukh with files from CNA
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