Taliban Orders \u201cDeviant\u201d Books Be Removed from Afghanistan\u2019s Libraries and Universities
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\nTaliban supreme leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada has issued an order instructing authorities throughout Afghanistan to identify and remove \u201cdeviant\u201d books from bookstores, school libraries, universities, and both public and private institutions, The Independent reported. <\/p>\n
Among the banned works are Dante\u2019s 14th-century allegory The Divine Comedy, Joseph Smith\u2019s The Book of Mormon, Kahlil Gibran\u2019s The Prophet, and Yuval Noah Harari\u2019s popular history Sapiens. Additionally, writings by several prominent Islamic scholars and theologians, as well as Iranian intellectuals and Afghan authors, have been blacklisted.<\/p>\n
According to the source citing publishers and school librarians in Herat and Kabul who confirmed that books addressing women\u2019s rights, United Nations resolutions, biographies of Taliban critics, secular government systems, and even those about the former Afghan Republic have been deemed \u201cdeviant\u201d and are now banned from sale, distribution, and public access.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, 13 July, four Taliban ministries \u2014 the Ministry of Guidance, Hajj and Religious Affairs; the Ministry of Information and Culture; the Ministry of Education; and the Ministry of Higher Education \u2014 convened to reaffirm the enforcement of this directive. At the meeting, the Ministry of Religious Affairs announced that, under Akhundzada\u2019s 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 \u201csuspicious content\u201d to clerics for further examination.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Taliban Orders \u201cDeviant\u201d Books Be Removed from Afghanistan\u2019s Libraries and Universities ——————————————— Taliban supreme leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada has issued an order instructing authorities throughout Afghanistan to identify and remove \u201cdeviant\u201d books from bookstores, school libraries, universities, and both public and private institutions, The Independent reported. Among the banned works are Dante\u2019s 14th-century allegory The …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":129919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_108372464460192_245495985553329":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-129920","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-afghanistan"],"yoast_head":"\n