Taliban Orders “Deviant” Books Be Removed from Afghanistan’s Libraries and Universities

Taliban Orders “Deviant” Books Be Removed from Afghanistan’s Libraries and Universities
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Taliban supreme leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada has issued an order instructing authorities throughout Afghanistan to identify and remove “deviant” books from bookstores, school libraries, universities, and both public and private institutions, The Independent reported.

Among the banned works are Dante’s 14th-century allegory The Divine Comedy, Joseph Smith’s The Book of Mormon, Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet, and Yuval Noah Harari’s popular history Sapiens. Additionally, writings by several prominent Islamic scholars and theologians, as well as Iranian intellectuals and Afghan authors, have been blacklisted.

According to the source citing publishers and school librarians in Herat and Kabul who confirmed that books addressing women’s rights, United Nations resolutions, biographies of Taliban critics, secular government systems, and even those about the former Afghan Republic have been deemed “deviant” and are now banned from sale, distribution, and public access.

On Sunday, 13 July, four Taliban ministries — the Ministry of Guidance, Hajj and Religious Affairs; the Ministry of Information and Culture; the Ministry of Education; and the Ministry of Higher Education — convened to reaffirm the enforcement of this directive. At the meeting, the Ministry of Religious Affairs announced that, under Akhundzada’s order, a committee comprising representatives from all four ministries has been established. This committee is responsible for reviewing books nationwide and submitting any materials with “suspicious content” to clerics for further examination.