In response to the US State Department report on religious freedom, which noted that there was a clear violation of religious freedoms in Afghanistan, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid stated that “the religious and civil rights of all minorities in Afghanistan are protected.”
Mujahid tweeted today, June 5th, that the State Department’s report findings on Afghanistan with respect to the religious freedom is “incomplete” and based on “false information”.
“All our Sunnis, Shiites, Sikhs and Hindus practice their religion freely,” he wrote on his official twitter handle.
According to the State Department, this year has seen “gross violation” of religious freedom in China, Pakistan, Iran, Russia, Myanmar, and India.
According to US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, after the Taliban took power in Afghanistan, the group’s basic rights for women and girls were infringed, and the Taliban’s ideological constraints hampered women and girls’ liberties.
He further said that after the Taliban took power, the groundwork was laid for ISIL to operate in Afghanistan, and that religious minorities, particularly the thousands of Afghans, were under threat from the Taliban.
The US Commission on International Religious Freedom previously told the State Department to place Afghanistan at the bottom of religious freedom rankings.
In terms of religious freedom, the committee called the Taliban’s coming to power a “disaster” for Afghanistan.
The Taliban, on the other hand, claims that all religious rights are in place and reserved.
