Source: www.persecution.org
Date: August 9, 2024
Afghanistan (International Christian Concern) — In a report published Wednesday, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) called religious freedom conditions in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan dire, documenting how the regime has continually worked to “repress and significantly stifle any action or behavior that does not conform with their strict interpretation of Islam.”
USCIRF has recommended that the U.S. Department of State designate Afghanistan as a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) every year since 2022, but this recommendation has yet to be followed. The Department of State has never recognized the religious freedom concerns in Afghanistan by designating it as a CPC or Special Watchlist country, though it did designate the Taliban as an Entity of Particular Concern (ECP) three times from 1999 to 2001. The Taliban is not currently designated as an EPC.
Despite promises that it would rule with ideological moderation and restraint, the Taliban has implemented an extreme version of Sharia law in the country since seizing power in 2021. Enforcement of Sharia law includes, according to the recent USCIRF report, “public executions, lashings and floggings, stoning, beatings, and acts of public humiliation, such as forced head shaving.”
Women are among those most affected by the Taliban’s changes. According to an earlier USCIRF report, more than half of the 80 religious edicts promulgated by the Taliban since coming to power in 2021 restrict the rights of women and girls. From education to employment to their ability to move about in public, the Taliban has worked to limit the rights of women in every area of life.
August 15 will mark three years since the Taliban retook Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, and the ignominious fall of the United States’ last stand in its decades-long war against the insurgent terrorist group. The era of American influence in Afghanistan, though it ended suddenly, was a hopeful time for Christians, women, and other marginalized groups. An entire generation was raised with access to the outside world, education, and relative freedom to practice their faith as they pleased.
Tragically, this was all stripped away when the Taliban regained control. It swiftly moved to block girls from education, reimpose Sharia law, and eliminate any dissent from its fundamentalist interpretation of Islam. Pariah on the international stage, the Taliban has managed to hobble along economically, though at enormous cost to civilians who are now cut off from critical international aid.
Tiny before the Taliban’s takeover and even smaller now, the Afghan church is in a precarious position. Taliban restrictions have severely limited contact with the outside world, and any efforts to send assistance to the church are met with a myriad of legal and logistical difficulties. The Afghan church is largely isolated from the greater global community.
HOW TO PRAY: Pray for an end to the Taliban’s brutal reign in Afghanistan. Pray for new godly leaders to rise to power. Praise God for USCIRF continuing to shine a light on global persecution.