In recent moves by the Taliban administration in Afghanistan, the signs of the health and educational institutions have been modified to only Pashto which has raised concerns among the Afghan publics.
Pictures of the Balkh University in Mazar-e-Sharif is being circulated on social media where it shows individuals are eliminating the ‘Persian’ version of the sign.
Prior to this, Herat residents had criticized about the elimination of ‘Persian’ sign on the entrance gate of Herat’s regional healthcare center.
Social media users criticize that the Taliban do not consider and respect the diverse culture in Afghanistan, while they are forcefully promoting their own cultural values.
Mohammad Halim Fidai, a former government official believes that the Taliban are raising the cultural issues in order to divert action from the current crisis to a different dirction.
“These conflicts are indeed arisen to further divide Afghan people”. Mohammad Halim Fidai tweeted.
‘Persian’ is one of the most ancient languages spoken in many Asian and Middle Eastern countries. The majority of Afghans living in the north, west, center and capital region of Afghanistan speak ‘Persian’ while most people living in the south and south-east of Afghanistan speak Pashto.
‘Persian’ was the first official language in Afghanistan before 1964, while later due to political changes, Pashto was also named as the second official language in Afghanistan.
Both Pashto and Persian were the official languages of Afghanistan during the presidency of Hamid Karzai and Mohammad Ashraf Ghani.
Historical records indicate that Persian which was later renamed to ‘Dari’ was the first language during kingdoms in Afghanistan.
This come as Afghanistan is a multi-cultural and a multi-ethnic country with shared values with its surrounding neighbors including Pakistan, Tajikistan, Iran and Uzbekistan.
