Six Kabul University students arrested; Taliban accuse them of “promoting atheistic ideas.”
The Taliban’s Ministry of Good Conduct and Prevention of Evil has announced that 6 Kabul University students have been arrested on charges of “promoting atheistic ideas.”
Ministry spokesman Saiful Islam Khyber said on Tuesday, August 6, that the students had been under surveillance for some time and were arrested after the Taliban collected what they called “evidence of intellectual deviation.”
The official said the move was part of what the Taliban sees as “fighting intellectual and cultural attacks,” and stressed that other individuals have been arrested on similar charges in the past two months.
The Taliban declined to provide further details about the identities or fields of study of the detained students, but warned that no one is allowed to challenge the group’s religious beliefs.
This is not the first time the Taliban have made arrests for intellectual or ideological reasons. Two employees of a cultural and religious institution were previously arrested on charges of “propagating Christianity” and “promoting feminism.”
Experts believe that the Taliban’s strict and extreme policies in the name of religion have led to disillusionment among young people with religious teachings and have severely limited the intellectual space in universities.
