A disturbing case of child marriage in southern Afghanistan has triggered widespread condemnation after reports emerged that a six-year-old girl was married to a 45-year-old man in Helmand province’s Marjah district. The incident, which has gone viral on social media following the circulation of images from the wedding ceremony, has prompted criticism from Afghan citizens, human rights organisations, and international observers.

According to US-based Afghan news outlet Amu.tv, the man—who already has two wives—allegedly paid the girl’s family in a traditional walwar arrangement, a customary bride price determined by the girl’s appearance, education level, and perceived social value.

Local Taliban officials reportedly intervened after learning of the marriage and stopped the man from taking the child to his home. However, they stated that the girl could be sent to her husband’s household once she reaches the age of nine. While both the groom and the child’s father were arrested in Marjah, no formal charges have been filed. The girl currently remains with her parents, according to Hasht-e Subh Daily.

Since the Taliban’s return to power in 2021, rates of child marriage have surged sharply. A 2024 report by UN Women noted a 25% rise in underage marriages and a 45% increase in early childbearing, correlating the trend with the regime’s ban on girls’ education and the economic crisis affecting families nationwide. Afghanistan remains one of the countries with the highest number of child brides globally, according to UNICEF.

The country currently lacks a legal minimum age for marriage. The previous civil code, which set the minimum age for girls at 16, has not been reinstated. Marriages are now governed by the Taliban’s interpretation of Islamic law, primarily the Hanafi school of jurisprudence, which permits marriage at or around the onset of puberty. However, there is no formal or medical consensus on the age at which this occurs.

Human rights groups argue that such interpretations leave children vulnerable to abuse and exploitation. Girls subjected to early marriages often face severe health risks from premature pregnancies, as well as social isolation, lack of education, and increased exposure to domestic violence.

Last month, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Taliban Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada and Chief Justice Abdul Hakim Haqqani on charges of crimes against humanity, specifically regarding their policies against women. The Taliban dismissed the warrants, calling them an “insult to the beliefs of Muslims.”

Meanwhile, restrictions on women continue to intensify across Afghanistan. Girls are banned from secondary schools and universities, and women are excluded from most public-facing jobs and recreational spaces. Travel without a male guardian is prohibited, and face coverings are mandatory in public.

Subscribe to our channels on Telegram, WhatsApp, and Instagram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

The post Afghanistan: 45-Year-Old Man Marries 6-Year-Old Girl; Taliban Intervenes, Asks Man To Wait Till She Turns 9 appeared first on The Commune.

It was the winter of last year, precisely the beginning of February 2022; a few months had passed since the fall of the republican system and the arrival of the terrorist Taliban group in Afghanistan. On that day, which I don’t remember the exact date, and it was early February 2022, my father, Elaha, and I, Sodaba, were at home as usual. It was a cold winter, and that evening, it was decided that Ms. Elaha would go shopping at the market. Then, Elaha is gone!

My father, Sodaba and I were at home. My father was busy, and Sodaba and I remember very well that we had started working on Sodaba’s 11th literary work and continued to write enthusiastically (that Sodaba book was never finished due to our lousy situation).

I was busy writing with Sodaba in a corner of the house. Two hours went by. But Elaha did not come home from the market! Even though my father was busy, he suddenly said: “Two hours have gone by, why didn’t Elaha come?”

I was still looking at the book’s pages and said: “She is coming; it is still early.” 

Sodaba, who understood my father’s anxiety very well, said: “Maybe she is late because there is a lot of traffic on the roads at this time.”

My father got busy with his work again with sadness. Sodaba and I also continued our writing. The sky slowly turned dark, and my father’s discomfort and anxiety grew increasingly. I thought the Elaha might be late because of the traffic on the roads. I told them: “Don’t worry, she will come, maybe she is stuck in a traffic jam.”

Another two hours went by, and my anxiety also increased.

My father and sister Sodaba got up and went to the mansion in the darkness of the night when the street lights slightly lighted the alley. My father waited for Elaha outside the house gate for an hour. I also came with Sodaba. We opened the house gate and watched the street with great anxiety. We knew that after our mother’s death, none of the relatives, not even a single male or female relative, came to our house, and we had not visited their houses either. Therefore, Elaha never goes to a relative’s house and has never gone.

So, there was no reason for Elaha to come home late. I remember I asked Sodaba more than thirty times: “Why do you think she didn’t come? Why did Elaha be late?” Sodaba, with fear in her eyes, asked me this question again and again. My father went to the end of the alley and returned and said to Sodaba: “Give me my coat, so I want to go out and look four sides around. Why is Elaha late? Surely, something happened with her.” The confusion and anxiety on my father’s face had increased. The father went and said to us: “Close the gate and do not open it to anyone. If Elaha comes, open the gate for her soon and let me know.”

After my father left, Sodaba and I were still standing on the roof of our house for one and a half or two hours in the same cold weather. Anxiety and confusion did not allow us, so we returned to the room. My father had walked to (Golai-e Heseh Awal-e Khairkhana). It’s one part of Kabul city and after waiting there for a while, he went to Qalai-e Najara. Then, almost two hours after searching for Elaha, he came home and said: “I could not find Elaha.”

When I heard this sentence, it was cumbersome and painful, as if a world of hatred, fear, and despair was hidden behind it. A storm seemed to be coming from behind this heavy word, which showed no mercy to anyone. I used to console myself by saying I would not allow negative thoughts to enter my mind, but it’s a pity that these thoughts came and went again.

My flurry and my sister Sodaba intensified. I told her, “So what should we do? Where should we look for Elaha?”

My father said: “I will go again to look for Elaha.”

And this time, my father and sister Sodaba went together to look for Elaha. I stayed at home alone. I was thinking about when my father and sister Sodaba would return home. After a few hours, in the darkness of the night, my father and Sodaba came back. They said with sadness and despair that we could not find Elaha.At that time, my father’s scattered thoughts and Sodaba’s cold hands were telling me about a bad event. We were left with a world of words to which we never knew the answer.

My father’s and Sodaba’s faces were sad and upset. We returned to the room and were talking about the same thing very anxiously: “Where is Elaha? Why didn’t she come home?”. During these few hours of searching, my father and Sodaba had gone from Golai-e to Sarai-e Shamali and then again to Qalai-e Najara, and they had even searched the hospitals in those areas to see if any traffic incidents occurred.

At that time, the Taliban’s violence was much higher than now because some of our relatives and neighbors had told the Taliban about my father. We knew out of fear that we could not go to the Taliban police department. Every day, we saw and read the media and news that the Taliban were killing innocent people in every region.

The fear of Taliban terrorists made us not go to the Taliban office to find and search Elaha.

So, who were we referring to?

To those who shed human blood like sheep and don’t even raise an eyebrow? 

To whom did we turn, to those who have no heart in their chest and no brain in their head?

To the terrorists whose logic the world is ashamed of?

To the terrorists who kill hundreds of people every day?

Which door should we be knocking on?

The door of Taliban terrorists?

It was not possible. We did not do so.

So, we did not refer to the Taliban fighters’ office.

We were all weakened. Inability and weakness are easy to pronounce, but their meaning is difficult and profound. Everyone knew our courage. I was saying to myself at that moment, and I wish it would be a miracle that we would know where Elaha is. This thought quickly crossed my mind, and another thought came to my mind: no! Now, it is not the time of miracles anymore. It would have collapsed that day if it were the sky instead of our family. If it were a mountain, it would melt bit by bit and be leveled on the ground; even if it were a stone, its cry would reach the sky. We were waiting for Elaha and counting the seconds.

That night was brutal and terrifying. My father and Sodaba were sitting awake until morning, and we were all talking: 

Why Didn’t Elaha Return? Where Is Elaha Now?

Our fear and distress were too great to express at all. Thousands of cruel words were attacking my mind at once. One word was that there may have been a traffic accident, but she may not have been kidnapped or killed! What will we do if she never comes again? The three of us were fighting a world of distress and pain. Finally, it was morning, and my father and sister Sodaba went in search of Elaha again to find her. I cleaned some rooms and cooked food. I soon realized that it was noon, and my father and Sodaba returned home again. Their fear and anxiety had doubled, and they said: “We searched everywhere, but we couldn’t find Elaha.”

Sodaba’s eyes were filled with hatred and pain. I felt that my father’s shoulders were bent. Five years ago, when my mother died, we had no grief left to endure. Elaha’s disappearance and her abduction by the Taliban group had destroyed our strength and ability. We were all troubled and sad, and distress is not a good thing that burns the marrow of people’s bones; it is ferocious. Suddenly, your lips will crack, your hands will be numb, and your heart will tremble. Therefore, several days have passed since Elaha’s kidnapping and disappearance. During this time, my father and Sodaba searched all over Kabul City day and night but found no news about Elaha.

To be continued…

This piece was written by Maryam Sadaf Delavarzi and translated by Asadullah Jafari “Pezhman”

Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

The post In Search Of Elaha In Taliban’s Afghanistan appeared first on The Commune.

Rajab, Golandam and their Four Children; Courtesy: Independent Persian

This article is a continuation of a heart-rending story of an Afghan couple. Read Part One here.

Running Away From Home

After ten days of imprisonment and torture, Rajab and Golandam were transferred to Mazar-e-Sharif in the fifth and third PDS building and the Taliban’s Ministry of Interior in Kabul, where they were also tried and imprisoned in 2006. In 2006, Rajab and Golandam were arrested 25 days after fleeing from the village from a house in the Dasht-e-Barchi region of Kabul. The police of the then government of Afghanistan took them to Mazar-e-Sharif, where they were tried on the charge of “running away from home.” In the final verdict, the government court in Balkh sentenced Golandam to one year and Rajab to one and a half years in prison.

Arsala and Golandam’s brothers filed a complaint to the local court of Balkh province; they claimed that Golandam was kidnapped owing to Rajab’s threats and pressure. But Golandam said in response to the previous court that she eloped with Rajab of her own free will because her brothers threatened her with death, and the fact that she loved Rajab too.

Arsala claimed that Golandam was his wife when there was no marriage contract between them. Golandam said, “When my brothers made me betroth to Arsala without my consent, Arsala was in Iran. When the police arrested and imprisoned me and Rajab, Arsala came from Iran and brought false witnesses to the court to testify that I am his wife. In the court, I told the judges to put me next to five other girls and ask Arsala which one is your wife? If Arsala recognized me and said this one is Golandam, I will go with him. When I said that, Arsala ran away because he didn’t even recognize my face.”

Golandam and Rajab were imprisoned for running away from home. Still, the fate of Golandam after the prison term was not clear. She was faced with brothers who considered her running away with a Hazara man as a great disgrace and shame for all members of the tribe. Such an act in Afghanistan has often led to the death of women.

Abdul Hamid (pseudonym), a human rights activist who closely followed the case of Rajab and Golandam in 2006, said Arsala was mentally disturbed. He spoke contradictory and unclear in several meetings held in the Balkh court and the former governor’s office in the presence of Arsala, Rajab, Golandam, and her brothers. According to Abdul Hamid, the court’s investigations also proved the false claims of Arsala and Golandam’s brothers regarding the marriage of Arsala and Golandam.

Golandam said that her brothers and Arsala could not prove their claims in court. Therefore, her only crime was running away from home, which was not legally considered a crime. Even though running away from home was not defined as a crime in the laws of the previous Afghan government, hundreds of women were in jail for this charge. According to a Human Rights Watch report published in March 2012, Hassan Banu Ghazanfar, the Minister of Women’s Affairs of the then-Afghan government, had said: “The act of running away from home is not a crime, but if other crimes are committed under the name of running away from home, the courts will pursue those crimes.”

In most cases, women who ran away from home were tried after being arrested on charges of having sex outside of marriage. Human Rights Watch wrote: “Running away from home is not defined as a crime in Afghanistan’s criminal law.” By dominating Afghanistan, the Taliban abolished the constitution and other laws approved by the previous Afghan governments. They said this group follows the Quran and Sharia instead of man-made laws. Despite this description, Golandam and Rajab were tried and imprisoned in the court of the former government of Afghanistan on charges of running away from home. After Golandam’s prison term was over, she was transferred to a safe house for women and girls under threat because her brothers had threatened her with death.

From 2007 to 2011, Golandam was kept in a safe house in Mazar-e-Sharif. She went to the Balkh court in late 2011 and said that, on the one hand, she could not return home because her life was in danger, and on the other hand, she remained undecided in the safe house. She also learned that Arsala was married and had a child. Golandam asked the court to issue a ruling on her marriage with Rajab to save her from uncertainty in a safe house and death in her brothers’ house. According to the documents, the court approved the marriage between Golandam and Rajab, and their legal case was officially closed.

Golandam and Rajab’s wedding ceremony was held in a small gathering at Rajab’s sister’s house. None of Golandam’s family members attended her wedding. Golandam and Rajab could not return to their village in Dolatabad and continued to live in Mazar-e-Sharif and Kabul. Of course, Golandam’s brothers never gave up on them. But because the court declared their claim invalid, they could not do anything against Rajab and Golandam.

“The Previous Gov’s Court Was American”

After Rajab and Golandam were transferred from Kabul to Mazar-e-Sharif in late May 2022, Arsala and Golandam’s brothers once again approached the Taliban court with allegations against the couple. Rajab and Golandam were imprisoned in the Taliban prison in Mazar-e-Sharif. But their case was first referred to Dolatabad district. Golandam says everyone “from judge to the cook” are her brothers’ friends because most of the senior officials of the Taliban in Dolatabad district are from Dorman Afghania village and the Alizai tribe, the tribe to which Golandam and her family belong. For this reason, Golandam’s brothers have a lot of influence among the Taliban, and they used this influence against Rajab and Golandam.

Arsala and Golandam’s brothers submitted the documents to the security departments and the Taliban court after their arrest in Kabul. Many claims have been made, including that the American forces were involved in Golandam’s escape. Hussain Khan, Golandam’s brother, mentioned Rajab as “Commander Rajab” in one of his letters to the Taliban court. He wrote that in 2006, about six months after Golandam got engaged to Arsala, Rajab kidnapped her from their home’s way and took her to Kabul. In this letter, he adds: “After 25 days, Rajab and Golandam were arrested in Kabul, and after going through the court proceedings, the case ended in our favor, and Golandam was handed over to us.” But the American forces took her from us and carried her to a safe house.”

In this letter, Hossein Khan claimed he had twice planned to take Golandam from Mazar-e-Sharif to the village, but the American forces prevented this action. He also wrote that Rajab was supported by Mohammad Mohaqiq [one of the political leaders of the Hazaras] and Abbas Ibrahimzadeh, the former representative of the Balkh people in the House of Representatives and he was not able to confront Rajab.

A source who was present during the sessions of the Taliban court to deal with the case of Golandam and Rajab says that the Taliban judges were very emotional after hearing the words of Golandam’s brothers about the intervention of American forces in this case. One of the Taliban judges threatened Golandam that he would shoot her in the courtroom if he could. In his belief, Golandam is a woman from the Pashtun tribe, and she has destroyed the honor and dignity of this people.

Although all the details of Rajab and Golandam’s case have been available in the Balkh court since 2006, the Taliban judges insisted that the previous courts were American and their decisions have no credibility with the Taliban. In response to a question from the Taliban court about how he claimed to be married to Golandam, Arsala wrote: “Golandam lived with me for six months. I used to commute to their house freely.” In another letter, he writes: “During my affiance with Golandam, I didn’t have intercourse with her, but we got to flirt and commuted freely.” Elsewhere, in response to a question about whether he divorced Golandam after getting engaged, he writes: “I divorced Golandam in an official court. Of course, due to coercion and threats of death by unknown people.” During the captivity of Golandam and Rajab, in another letter to the Taliban’s fifth security district in Kabul, Arsala wrote: “Golandam is my wife.” I want to take her with me.”

Arsala’s letters and answers to the Taliban institutions are contradictory. The claims of Golandam’s brothers about the involvement of American forces and political leaders in supporting Rajab are not confirmed by any of the informed sources who have followed the case of Rajab and Golandam in courts of the previous government and the Taliban. Despite all this, the Taliban imprisoned Rajab and Golandam for nine months citing these claims as well as the religious difference between them.

The Cost Of Getting Released 

During the nine months that Rajab was in the Taliban prison in Mazar-e-Sharif, he faced a repeated question in court hearings: “A Hazara follower of the Shia religion, how did you dare marry a Sunni Pashtun woman?” Taliban judges have repeatedly pointed out that the court of the former Afghan government, which issued the verdict on the marriage of Rajab and Golandam despite the difference in religion, was following American beliefs and laws; otherwise, such a verdict is not permissible. Rajab was told many times that the only way that might lead to his freedom is to divorce Golandam, and that’s enough. Rajab concluded that there was only one way to have Golandam and his children: to change his religion and convert to the Hanafi religion.

Therefore, Rajab requested some educational books about the Hanafi religion from his friends, who were the connector between him and his family. He read these books for several months in the Taliban prison. Then he announced to the Taliban court that he was now a follower of the Hanafi religion. Finally, the Taliban court promised freedom to Rajab and Golandam.

On the evening of Monday, 30 January 2023, Rajab and Golandam, who were imprisoned in two separate cells, heard the news of Khalifa Hossein’s death instead of being released. Rajab’s brother Hossein was the only one who followed up on the case of Rajab and Golandam. Golandam said about Hossein: “When we were transferred from Kabul to Mazar-e-Sharif and imprisoned there, Khalifa Hossein kept my three children with him and always visited and helped us. He used to come to the jail every Thursday and get news from us.” 

Mrs. Golandam said without naming specific people: “They killed Khalifa Hussein because our innocence was proven in the court, and they couldn’t do anything with us.” Rajab said with great and profound sadness that his brother was killed: “I wish they didn’t kill my brother and… they would do whatever they wanted with us, but I wish they didn’t kill him. I lost everything, even my brother.”

Regarding how he was released from Taliban prison, Rajab says that in the last court session, the judge made sure that he had converted to the Hanafi religion or not and had no religious differences with Golandam. The Taliban judge asked him questions about the Sharia issues of the Hanafi religion and found the answers of Rajab, who had studied religious books during his several months in prison, convincing. While confirming the ruling of the court of the previous government regarding Rajab and Golandam’s marriage, the judge issued the sentence for their release.

Displaced In Iran

In late February 2023, Rajab and Golandam fled to Iran through smuggling after being released from Taliban prison. As a result of the electric shocks and torture he suffered during his captivity by the Taliban in Kabul, Rajab suffered from a nervous problem and developed diabetes during his nine months of imprisonment in Mazar-e-Sharif. His daughter, Nargis, was left under the hands and feet of passengers while running in a plain on the way to Iran illegally. Now, parts of her body, including her legs, are infected, and she is in severe pain. Golandam has also been suffering from high blood pressure in the Taliban prison, and now she gets sick occasionally.

Golandam said: “I love Rajab; both of us are satisfied with this marriage, although it ended up being very difficult for us. But in these years, we did not spend a single day in peace because of my brothers.” Golandam added that her children have nightmares at night and sometimes scream at midnight, saying, “Don’t imprison us. Don’t beat my father.”  and wake up.

Endnotes:

1. https://www.hrw.org/report/2012/03/28/i-had-run-away/imprisonment-women-and-girls-moral-crimes-afghanistan
2. http://www.indiandefencereview.com/the-darkness-of-talibans-sharia/
3. https://cdn.jwplayer.com/previews/q4kJMW5Z

This story was written by Mukhtar Vafaei and translated by Asadullah Jafari “Pezhman”.

Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

The post The Cost Of Release From Taliban Jail: From Converting Religion To Losing Brother appeared first on The Commune.

One sunny day in June 2022, amid a traffic jam at the bus station, Rajab and Golandam slowly sat on the seats of a taxi with their four children to reach a safe place after 18 years of being chased. But before the car started to move, armed people appeared around the vehicle and ordered Rajab to get off. Golandam fell into a deep panic because she knew that his brothers were chasing her and Rajab like a shadow with the assistance of the Taliban. The armed men, who were soldiers of the 5th district of Taliban police in Kabul city, put a black bag over Rajab’s head. Golandam and her children and Golandam’s old aunt, who was planning to go to Pakistan with them, were put in a military vehicle and taken away.

 Rajab and Golandam are a Hazara and a Pashtun couple who got married in 2011 after five years of imprisonment and a struggle in the courts. Rajab is 50 years old, Golandam is 38, and both are originally from the Dolatabad district in Balkh province. They are being harassed and threatened ever since they decided to marry 18 years ago and they spent a part of their lives being on the run. In the Taliban prison, Rajab was forced to renounce the Jafari religion so that the marriage between him and his wife, who is a Sunni, would not be declared invalid.

 In 2006, Rajab and Golandam lived in two neighboring villages, called Alang and Dorman Afghania villages, in the Dolatabad district of Balkh province. The residents of Alang village are Hazaras who follow the Shia religion, and the residents of Dorman Afghania are members of the Alizai tribe, who are Pashtuns and follow the Hanafi religion. The families of Rajab and Golandam had close relations with each other since about 50 years ago. Due to the neighboring agricultural lands of the residents of the two villages, the Hazara and Pashtun families in these two villages had close relations.

 One afternoon in the summer of 2006, when Golandam returned home from the wedding ceremony of one of the village residents, she noticed some guests talking with her brothers. Golandam tried to know what the guests and her brothers were talking about. One of her brothers said that they were talking to the guests about the agricultural lands and did not allow Golandam to bring tea to the guests and talk to them. In the evening of that day, Golandam was informed that the guests had come to propose to her and that her brothers had engaged her to a man named Arsala.

 Arsala, now about 48 years old, was working in Iran at that time to provide for the needs of his low-income family who lived in the village of Afghanyar (the neighboring village of Dorman, Afghania). Arsala was illiterate, from a low-income family, and suffered from mental and nervous illness. This news was inconvenient for Golandam while her brothers had married girls of their choice. She had not seen Arsala up close and did not want to marry him for obvious reasons. When Golandam disagreed with the family members’ decision, her brothers repeatedly beat and tortured her. Once, one of Golandam’s brothers even threatened her with death and said that she would be killed if she did not agree to marry Arsala.

 The marks of the brothers’ torture still remain on Golandam’s eyes, face, and right leg. Golandam lost sight in her right eye due to these tortures, and a large scar on her right leg and forehead can still be seen. In the meantime, Golandam was thinking about Rajab, a man who could be the savior of Golandam. Golandam and Rajab were on a cellphone call with each other. Golandam asked Rajab to save her from marrying Arsala or being killed by her brothers. For Golandam, age, religion, and ethnicity differences were unimportant; she thought of one thing “to save herself from a trap her brothers had laid for her.”

 In the morning of 2006, Rajab and Golandam escaped from the village and went to Mazar-e-Sharif and Kabul. The news of the escape of Rajab and Golandam sounded like a bomb in the village and word quickly spread everywhere.

 Rajab and Golandam have been on the run ever since they fled the village until now; 18 years have passed since that day. They would sometimes appear from the prison or from safe houses, or at times from the borders, and sometimes from cities. The couple had four children during these years of escape. Rajab and Golandam are now in Iran after spending nine months in the Taliban prison. They shared the story of their 18 years of painful life with the correspondent of Independent Persian.

 “You Are A Hazara, How Did You Dare Marry an Oghan (Pashtun) Woman?”

 Rajab says that when he was arrested on Friday, 13 June 2022, at the passenger car station of Kabul Company, the Taliban took him, Golandam, Golandam’s aunt, and their children to a nearby military base. Rajab and Golandam lived in secret with the Taliban’s rule over Afghanistan for fear of falling into the hands of Golandam’s brothers. They planned to go to Pakistan from Kabul but were arrested before the car left. Rajab said: “When the Taliban caught me and started beating me, I said, “What sin have I committed? One member of the Taliban said: “You are a Hazara!” How did you dare to marry an Oghan (Pashtun) woman?”.

 Rajab explains that in the Taliban base, they hung him by his feet in a container and took turns torturing him. An hour later, Rajab, Golandam, Golandam’s aunt, and the children were taken to the building of the fifth security district of the Taliban. Golandam, her aunt, and her children were locked in an abandoned warehouse, and Rajab was tortured in another room. Rajab says about the torture in the fifth police station of the Taliban in Kabul: “They connected an electric shock to my body. They would put a water hose in my mouth until my stomach was full of water, then someone would kick me in the stomach. Each member of the Taliban took turns hitting me with a cable and cursing me.” Golandam and her children Nargis, ten years old; Maryam, eleven years old; Leila, nine years old and Abbas, four years old, heard their father’s screams under the Taliban torture.

 In the meantime, Arsala and Golandam brothers arrived in Kabul from the Dolatabad district. They were trying to take Rajab, Golandam, and their children to the village and settle accounts with them there. Golandam’s brothers were happy that they could recapture the couple, who were acquitted by the court in the previous government of Afghanistan and married according to the court’s ruling, with the help of the Taliban. Golandam says that before arriving in Kabul, her brothers called her aunt, who was in prison, with her and said that Golandam and Rajab would be killed. Still, they have nothing to do with the aunt.

 Golandam could hear the voices of the Taliban from behind the door, talking about shooting and killing Rajab. But this decision was not based on the verdict of the courts and judicial institutions of the Taliban, but on the instigation of Golandam’s brothers, who told the Taliban soldiers: “Commander Rajab” ran away their sister during the rule of the previous government and their children are the result of an illegitimate relationship outside of marriage. Rajab and Golandam heard many times from Taliban members that they were told that their children are bastards because the marriage of a Shia man with a Sunni woman is Haram and forbidden. For this reason, the Taliban also harassed Golandam’s children by calling them impure.

 Golandam says that while they were imprisoned in the 5th district of the Taliban police in Kabul, the Taliban even refused to give them water. Once, her four-year-old son, Abbas, called loudly for his father, who was being tortured in another room. But a Taliban member punched him in his mouth, filling the child’s mouth with blood. Golandam said: “I kissed the Taliban’s feet many times. I begged them and said not to do this; my children are afraid. But the Taliban said that your children are the result of adultery and are bastards.”

 During the 20 months of rule over Afghanistan, the Taliban have repeatedly prevented Shiite men from marrying Sunni women. In the Shia religion, the marriage of a Shia man to a Sunni woman is considered permissible. Still, there are different views regarding the marriage of a Shia woman to a Sunni man. Some Shia jurists, such as Fazel Lankarani, have said about the marriage of a Shia woman to a Sunni man that “it is better to avoid this.” Still, some, such as Sayed Ali Khamenei, believe: “If there is no fear of deviation from religion, there is no obstacle.”

 Taliban’s Ministry of Propagation Virtue and Prevention of Vice has not yet issued a written ruling regarding the prohibition of marriage between followers of two religions. However, the officials of this ministry have repeatedly talked about the ban on marriage between the followers of two religions.

 In January 2023, the Talibani officials of the Ministry of Propagation Virtue and Prevention of Vice announced to the people in the mosques of Mazar-e-Sharif that marriage between followers of the Shiite and Hanafi religions is Haram (forbidden). On the 15th of the same month, the governor of the Taliban in the Naasi district of Badakhshan province wrote in a letter he sent to the mosques: “According to religious and ideological considerations, it is announced to all ethnic groups under the territory of this district. From now on, no one from the Sunni religion has the right to give a girl to a Shia or take a wife from a Shia for a Sunni.”

Click here to read part two of the article.

Endnotes:

1. https://www.hrw.org/report/2012/03/28/i-had-run-away/imprisonment-women-and-girls-moral-crimes-afghanistan
2. http://www.indiandefencereview.com/the-darkness-of-talibans-sharia/
3. https://cdn.jwplayer.com/previews/q4kJMW5Z

This story was written by Mukhtar Vafaei and translated by Asadullah Jafari “Pezhman”.

Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

The post The Heart-Rending Story Of A Hazara And Pashtun Couple From The Taliban Jail – Part One appeared first on The Commune.

After the Taliban took over Kabul, the lives of many Afghans who supported the United States, NATO and India are now endangered. However, there is also a new problem wherein, 150 soldiers and cadets of the Afghan National Army who were undergoing training in India, now find themselves marooned in this country.

They are not only away from their home-country and families after the collapse of the Afghanistan civilian government and armed forces, but the takeover by the Taliban also means that these cadets – trained at the National Defence Acadamy, Indian Military Acadamy and Officers Training Acadamy – are now facing the prospect of revenge-killing, even though the Islamic terror outfit has given ‘general amnesty’ to all government officials.

However, the defence forces are vulnerable to revenge attacks as they are seen as a threat. The Indian government will have to take a call on whether to send them back after training or wait till the situation in Afghanistan becomes stable. There is also the option of giving them an extended visa to stay in the country for a prolonged time.

“Apart from the cadets at IMA, OTA, and NDA, some Afghan officers and other ranks are also attending specifically-tailored capsule courses for them at different military training establishments in India,” Times of India quoted a source as saying.

Over the years, the Indian armed forces not only supplied military hardware, including four Mi-25 armed helicopters and three light Cheetal choppers, to ANDSF, they also trained thousands of Afghan military personnel in counter-terrorism operations, military field-craft, signals, intelligence-gathering and information technology, among other fields.

Scores have also undergone the “Young Officers’ course” at the Infantry School in Mhow, as well as training at the specialised counter-insurgency and jungle warfare school at Vairengte in Mizoram.

India has been training around 700 to 800 Afghan soldiers per year on short-duration “tailor-made” courses for Afghans at the different Indian military establishments for over a decade now.

Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

The post 150 Afghan cadets undergoing training at various military academies in India stuck, fear Taliban’s revenge appeared first on The Commune.

Featured Image: A screengrab from the video where two Taliban terrorists can be heard ostensibly speaking in
Malayalam. Credits: Twitter/@RamizReports

A video of two Taliban terrorists purportedly speaking to each other in Malayalam has gone viral on social media.

This eight second video, uploaded on to microblogging platform Twitter by a journalist, comprises a scene where one Talibani speaks to his fellow Talibani in what is purported to be Malayalam, and says, “samsarikkette? (Can I talk?)”.

There have numerous reports that members of the minority community from Kerala had moved to the Middle East and Afghanistan to join ISIS and other terrorist organizations. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has investigated these allegations and has even started criminal proceedings against some returnees. The Kerala government too has confirmed the same.

This latest Malayalam conversation between Taliban militants has further given impetus to the notion that Islamic terrorists are very much active in Kerala.

It sounds as if there are at least two Malayali Taliban here — one who says “samsarikkette” around the 8-second mark & another who understands him! https://t.co/SSdrhTLsBG

— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) August 17, 2021

The video was also retweeted by Shashi Tharoor.

Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

The post Video of Taliban terrorists purportedly speaking in Malayalam goes viral appeared first on The Commune.

As India celebrated its 75th Independence day on Sunday (August 15), the dreaded Islamic terror group, the Taliban entered Kabul without any resistance after President Ashraf Ghani resigned and left the country to avoid bloodshed.

Ghani said, “If left unchecked, countless patriots would be martyred and the city of Kabul would be devastated, resulting in a major humanitarian catastrophe in the six-million-strong city.”

Taking to Facebook, Ghani asserted that he faced a “hard choice” between the “armed Taliban” or “leaving the dear country”. He also said, “The Taliban have won with the judgement of their swords and guns, and are now responsible for the honour, property and self-preservation of their countrymen.”

Though there are still many provinces of the war-torn country that are not under the control of the Taliban, however, by getting control of Kabul, the dream of converting Afghanistan into an Islamic emirate has now been realised two decades after the invasion by the United States.

The militant group now sits comfortably in the presidential palace, and has said it plans to soon declare a new “Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.”

No one expected Kabul to fall this quickly because a US intelligence assessment had said that it would take ninety days for the Taliban to get to Kabul. Now this victory has shocked NATO allies and it is clear that US President Joe Biden’s administration was blindsided by the Taliban’s advance.

Analysts also compared the withdrawal of US troops in Afghanistan to the American war in Vietnam.

The bitter memories of the Saigon retreat were in full display as U.S. military helicopters were seen ferrying passengers from the U.S. embassy and the lowering of the American flag meant that the twenty-year-old war on terror is now over.

However, it is the common Afghans who supported America who are now lined up at the airport, desperately trying to get out of the country as the Taliban bays for their blood. 

On April 14, 2021, President Joe Biden announced the complete withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, and without informing the Afghan government, the Bagram airbase was abandoned. After that, it took just four months for the Taliban to capture Kabul with technical support from Pakistan.

Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

The post Exactly four months after US announced its withdrawal from Afghanistan, Taliban enters Kabul appeared first on The Commune.

As the Afghanistan government of Ashraf Ghani capitulated to the Taliban on Sunday (August 15), one Hindu priest whose family has been in charge of the Rattan Nath temple has refused to be evacuated from Kabul.

Pandit Rajesh Kumar, the priest of Rattan Nath Temple in Kabul said, “Some Hindus have urged me to leave Kabul and offered to arrange for my travel and stay.”

“But my ancestors served this Mandir for hundreds of years. I will not abandon it. If Taliban kills me, I consider it my Seva”, he said.

Afghanistan was once home to lakhs of Hindus and Sikhs who lived in peace and harmony, but now the Taliban which has declared Afghanistan an emirate will impose Sharia law. It has said it will demand Jizya from any non-Muslim minority who stays in the country.

Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

The post Last Hindu of Kabul, Pandit Rajesh Kumar of Rattan Nath Temple, refuses to leave amid Taliban takeover appeared first on The Commune.

After Pakistan Interior Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad has blamed India for the abduction and the torture of Afghanistan’s envoy daughter in Islamabad, the Indian Ministry of External Affairs Thursday(July 22), said, “Even by their standards, Pakistan’s denial of the victim’s account is stooping to a new low.”
 
MEA’s spokesperson Arindam Bagchi during a virtual media briefing called it a “shocking incident” and added, “This involves two other countries viz. Afghanistan and Pakistan, and usually we would not comment on it,”.

On July 16, the 26-year-old daughter of Afghan ambassador Najibullah Alikhil was abducted and was held for almost five hours and assaulted by unidentified men presumably of Pakistan’s Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI). The Afghan government recalled its envoy and senior diplomats from Islamabad after this incident.
 
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs once again expresses deep concern over the continuation of unprofessional remarks by Pakistan’s Interior Minister regarding the abduction of the daughter of our Ambassador in Islamabad,” the Afghan foreign ministry has said in a statement.
 
When Bagchi was asked how secure Indian High Commission personnel are in Pakistan, he said, “I would not like to get into specific securing measures.”
 
On India-Afghanistan bilateral relations, the MEA spokesperson said, “We are guided by the Strategic Partnership Agreement signed between the two sides in October 2011. As a contiguous neighbour, India supports the Government and the people of Afghanistan in realizing their aspirations for a peaceful, democratic and prosperous future where the interest of all sections of Afghan society including women and minorities are protected,”.

Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

The post MEA: Pakistan stooping to a new low, with Pakistan’s Interior Minister blaming India for kidnapping of Afghan ambassador’s daughter appeared first on The Commune.

In a tweet, Afghanistan Vice-President Amrullah Saleh shared a famous photo of Pakistani General AAK Niazi surrendering to the Indian Army in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.

Saleh in his official Twitter handle wrote, “We don’t have such a picture in our history and won’t ever have. Yes, yesterday I flinched for a fraction of a second as a rocket flew above & landed few meters away. Dear Pak twitter attackers, Taliban & terrorism won’t heal the trauma of this picture. Find other ways.,”.

We don't have such a picture in our history and won't ever have. Yes, yesterday I flinched for a friction of a second as a rocket flew above & landed few meters away. Dear Pak twitter attackers, Talibn & terrorism won't heal the trauma of this picture. Find other ways. pic.twitter.com/lwm6UyVpoh

— Amrullah Saleh (@AmrullahSaleh2) July 21, 2021

Vice-President Amrullah Saleh is the most wanted leader of the Afganistan government and has been a thorn on the side of the Taliban and the Pakistani army for years. Also, he headed the Afghan intelligence agency National Directorate of Security (NDS) from 2004 to 2010.

The picture posted by Saleh is the most famous picture that was taken as one can see Pakistan Army Chief Gen Niazi who shares the same surname with Prime Minister Imran Khan Niazi sign the Instrument of Surrender with Indian Army’s Lieutenant General Jagjit Singh Aurora in Dhaka on 16 December 1971.

Click here to subscribe to The Commune on Telegram and get the best stories of the day delivered to you personally.

The post “We don’t have such a picture in our history,” Afghan Vice-President posts the famous picture of Pakistan army surrender to India in 1971 appeared first on The Commune.