Afghanistan’s staunch opposition The Taliban government has outlawed all political parties on the grounds that they have “no justification” under Sharia law.
“Political parties are banned completely, we will not permit any political party to operate in the country,” Abdul Hakim Sharaee, the Taliban’s de facto justice minister, said during a news conference on August 16, one day after the Taliban marked two years of rule since international troops withdrew from the country.
To that, he said, “Political parties have no justification in Islamic Shari’a law and they are not in the best interest of our nation,” suggesting that political parties have been the primary cause of instability in Afghanistan for decades.
After dozens of political parties were established after the Taliban’s 2001 overthrow, the prohibition marks the latest limitation on political activity by the terrorist group.
Since retaking power in 20221, ultraconservative militants have consolidated their hold on government by appointing Taliban officials to every top position in the country’s administration, all the while silencing the media and doing away with democratic institutions.
As well as severely restricting fundamental freedoms in most aspects of everyday life—from prohibiting women and girls from attending schools to forbidding music—the Taliban authority has been formally recognized by no nation.
Afghanistan’s once-thriving civil society and political elite have fled the country due to the threat of persecution, murder, and arrests by the Taliban. Inside the nation, political figures are closely monitored by the Taliban and seldom given permission to leave.
Reconciliation attempts among Afghans wanting to establish discussion between diverse political groupings are likely to be hampered by the prohibition on political parties. The peace process has been encouraged by the international community in the hopes of establishing a representative government in the conflict-torn country.
Despite calls for the Taliban to adopt a constitution from members such as Mullah Abdul Salam Zaeef, a former Taliban ambassador, the Taliban administration continues to function without one.
In a recent interview, he was quoted as saying, “Forming a constitution is important to preserve Afghanistan’s sovereignty.” According to the author, “it will determine the destiny of our people, outline the power of the people [in the government], and how to interact with the world.”
After the fall of the first Taliban regime in 2001, political parties in Afghanistan made a modest return.
Former anti-Soviet guerrilla leaders from the 1980s and the communists who battled them remained to control the weak political organization.
The majority of senior Taliban members were educated at Pakistani Islamic schools known as madrasahs. Jamiat Ulema-e Islam (JUI) is a significant Islamist political party, and its clerics operate most of the religious schools in the country. JUI members vote and often form coalitions with nonreligious political groups.
In the midst of a civil conflict between Islamist and former communist forces, the Taliban formed in the mid-1990s as a loosely organized student militia. These organizations sprang out of the leftist and rightist Islamist political movements that formed in the 1960s, when Afghanistan was trying to establish its first democratic institutions.