| Another long one because today is Sunday. Enjoy! |
...the Pashtun equivalent of men...supreme leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, from 2016, when he became leader, to May 2023, have been published. They make fascinating reading, tracing some of what the leadership felt was important to ban, make obligatory, organise or administer during the insurgency and since recapturing power. Some themes are repeated — land and land-grabbing, administrative corruption and treatment of prisoners, including using torture without a court order. Several orders enjoin Taliban fighters to good behaviour, such as not letting hair grow below the shoulders, not using profanities and avoiding cronyism and ethnocentrism. Alongside AAN’s English translation of the decrees, which can be found in the Resources section of our website, Kate Clark has been delving into their substance to see what they tell us about the Taliban’s leader and the Islamic Emirate.
65 decrees, edicts and instructions from Mullah Hibatullah have been published in the Official Gazette (announcement here). The original orders in Dari and Pashto, as well as an unofficial English translation by AAN are available in the Resources section of the AAN website. A list of the orders (brief title and number) can also be found here.