Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Kandahar: Girls Are Forbidden from Going to Health Centers and Cemeteries
Date: May 6, 2023
Source: Media

According to Goharshad Media, Mawlawi Abdul Hai Omar, head of the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Kandahar, has instructed all officers in Kandahar province to strictly prevent young girls from visiting health centers and cemeteries.

In an audio message circulated among his district officers, Omar claimed that girls were wearing new clothes and using the cemetery as a pretext to leave home, and that unmarried girls going to clinics were using cosmetics and pretending to be sick.

He ordered his forces to completely ban girls from entering these places and instructed them to arrest violators by any means necessary.

The exact date of the recording is unknown.

This directive is a stark example of how the Taliban’s gender policies are endangering the health, dignity, and basic humanity of girls. By banning young girls from health clinics and cemeteries, the Taliban are not only stripping them of their right to medical care and cultural practices, but also subjecting them to public suspicion, humiliation, and arrest based on their clothing and appearance.

The justification—accusing girls of faking illness or using cemeteries as excuses to leave home—reflects a mindset of presumed guilt, hyper-surveillance, and control over female mobility. It is a clear move to erase girls from public life, even in cases of health emergencies or acts of mourning.