KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Taliban intelligence agents have detained a religious scholar in southern Helmand province, reportedly for criticizing the regime’s ban on girls’ education.
Local sources have identified the detained scholar as Bashir Ahmad Hanafi, a prominent religious figure in the region. He was reportedly arrested in Lashkargah, the provincial capital, ten days ago and remains in custody.
The Taliban has not given a reason for his detention. However, the sources say that Hanafi was arrested after publicly criticizing the group’s ban on girls’ education in recent media interviews.
According to the sources, Hanafi, a graduate of Al-Azhar University in Egypt, also runs a religious school in Lashkargah.
This incident follows a pattern of similar arrests in recent months. In January, three other scholars were detained in Kabul and Kandahar for publicly criticizing the regime’s policies on women and girls’ education.
The detentions are part of a broader crackdown by the Taliban on its critics. Human rights groups report that activists, journalists, and scholars who oppose the regime’s hardline policies are being detained, tortured, and in some cases killed. The groups accuse the Taliban of using arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances as methods to silence dissent.
Afghanistan remains the only country in the world where girls are banned from secondary education. The Taliban has also barred women from universities and restricted their participation in most jobs, including in healthcare and humanitarian aid.
International pressure, including from Muslim countries and organizations, has so far failed to persuade the Taliban to reverse its policies, leaving millions of Afghan women and girls facing an uncertain future under the regime’s oppressive measures.
