KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Hibatullah Akhundzada, the leader of the Taliban, has issued a decree to assess and replace “foreign terms” in administrative and official documents.
The Taliban’s Ministry of Justice published this four-article decree today (Sunday, April 5).
Article One of the decree states that, in order to assess and replace “foreign terms,” a committee will be established under the leadership of the Ministry of Justice, with members from the Ministries of Higher Education, Education, and Information and Culture, as well as the General Directorates of the Academy of Sciences and the Administrative Affairs Office of the Taliban.
In Article Two, the Taliban leader stated that “all Emirate (government) institutions are obliged to collect the foreign terms used in their respective administrations and official documents, propose appropriate alternatives with justification, and submit a table of these to the committee for the assessment and replacement of foreign terms in administrative and official documents.”
Clause One of Article Three states that the aforementioned committee is required to “review the foreign terms submitted by Emirate (government) administrations, select alternative terms in a documented manner, taking into account Islamic and Afghan terminology, and present its final opinion to us.”
In Clause Two of this article, the Taliban leader also stated that the committee may “invite representatives of the relevant administration, if necessary, to provide information during the evaluation of foreign terms.”
In Article Four, Hibatullah Akhundzada stated that “this decree is effective from the date of issuance and shall be published in the official gazette.”
The decree does not provide any definition of what constitutes “foreign terms.”
This decree comes as the Taliban have previously removed Persian words from the signboards of government administrations on multiple occasions.
The group has been widely accused of “anti-Persian bias” due to the removal of Persian words.
Afghanistan is among the world’s multilingual and multicultural countries, home to a wide range of ethnic groups and languages.
However, since the return of the Taliban to power in 2021, concerns have grown over the protection of this diversity. Critics say policies that centralize authority and prioritize specific cultural and linguistic narratives risk marginalizing minority languages and identities. Restrictions on education for girls, limitations on cultural expression, and reduced space for independent media have further raised fears among activists and community leaders that Afghanistan’s linguistic and cultural plurality could face long-term erosion if not actively safeguarded.
In a related development three months ago, the United Nations reported that the Taliban have issued at least 470 decrees since taking power in August 2021, many of which have had direct or indirect impacts on humanitarian operations. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 79 of these decrees specifically target women and girls, restricting their freedom of movement and limiting their participation in education, employment, the economy, and public life.
Such measures are often viewed within a broader cultural and political context, where language policies can influence national identity, administrative practices, and access to public services, particularly in a multilingual society like Afghanistan.
