Madalaine Elhabbal, Catholic News Agency
Wednesday, August 20, 2025
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has released a report examining the religious liberty implications for women and minorities in Afghanistan four years after the Taliban’s takeover. “Religious freedom conditions in Afghanistan continue to decline dramatically under Taliban rule,” the USCIRF writes concerning the Taliban’s Law on the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, one year after its enactment. “The new morality law reinforces a systematic and overt erasure of religious freedom in Afghanistan and facilitates the ongoing repression of religious minorities.” The morality law “impacts all Afghans” but “disproportionately affects religious minorities and women, eradicating their participation in public life and systematically eliminating their right to [freedom of religious belief].”
