KABUL The day starts at eight in the morning at the Taliban police station in central Kabul. Turbaned, bearded men cool off through the heavily guarded gates of the station.
A very special group holds its morning meeting here. It’s about the moral police. It is headed by the Taliban’s infamous Ministry of Promotion of Virtues and Prevention of Vices.
– Today we are educating the townspeople to comply with Sharia law, but softly, head of the unit Samandar Khan Hashimi says.
Four moral policemen nod.
We’re going for a tour. The moral police wear long, white coats. Only the black turbans and the ministry logo on the chest distinguish them from the doctors who wear the same coat.
A gunman dressed in a terrain-patterned uniform jumps into a pick-up truck with five white coats.
‘s filming team can also join. We want to see what the Taliban’s moral police are doing on their rounds in 2023. It’s worth noting that we’re hardly getting a completely true picture of things. The moral police probably have a desire to present a polished image of themselves to the Western media.
The Ministry of Virtues and Vices achieved a feared reputation during the Taliban’s previous reign in the 1990s. Its employees was reported for example, male relatives of women who had been beaten, if the woman was not wearing a full-body blue burqa.
When the Taliban returned to power in 2021, it quickly replaced the former Ministry of Women’s Affairs with the Ministry of Virtues and Vices. It is this ministry that has drawn up most of the controversial rules.
It has so far ordered women to cover their faces, forbid them from visiting parks and not to travel more than 72 kilometers without a male relative.
And has anything changed in the operation of the moral police from the horrors of the Taliban’s previous reign?
Spokesperson for the Ministry of Virtues and Vices Muhammad Sadiq Akif according to the stories from thirty years ago are not even true.
– Maybe in some cases our ministry made mistakes, but in general no one was allowed to insult or torture anyone, he claims.
According to Akif, the Islamic law is clear: the moral police preach about Islam. They are not allowed to hit anyone.
The moral police patrol the city twice a day and do spot checks on restaurants and shops. They don’t go to homes. It’s about monitoring public morality, the spokesperson emphasizes.
The moral police advise on compliance with Sharia law
We stop at a centrally located shopping mall. It is known for its fine restaurants and shops selling foreign brands. Not a bazaar of ordinary people, then.
The Taliban get out of their Toyota Hilux and march to a barbershop called VIP. The head of the unit, Hashimi, carefully knocks on the glass door. The team steps into a small booth.
A middle-aged client is about to receive a black face mask. His face doesn’t even waver when the Taliban waltzes into the shop. Even the eyes remain firmly closed throughout the episode.
– You don’t play music here, do you? the Taliban inquire from the owner of the barber shop.
Next is a shop selling western clothes. In its window is a photograph of a man wearing a suit.
The face of the picture is covered with a piece of paper.
Next to it is a female mannequin.
The doll’s face is clearly visible, the lips are even reddened.
The head is wrapped in a modest hijab.
Inside the store, the Taliban inquire about the clothing of the female customers.
– Do they come here in hijab?
There are still no customers in the store at this time of day. Why are the faces covered in the pictures?
– It is a matter prescribed by Sharia law, the senior morality police officer explains.
Sharia law is not a simple matter. Islamic law is based on the Koran and the hadiths, i.e. the accounts of what the Prophet Muhammad did and said. The law is interpreted in different ways, and the Taliban represents one of many schools of thought.
The members of the moral police are religious scholars of some level. Hashim has two master’s degrees in Islamic sciences.
– Those hired in our position must be well trained, says Hashimi.
Hookahs in restaurants annoy the Taliban
The journey continues upstairs. The Turkish restaurant Istanbul is located there, where until recently you could order a hookah for smoking. Now you can get pipes in few places anymore, and even then carefully under the table.
– Some restaurants serve hookahs. We enlightened them many times, but they did not believe us. So we took them to the police station, where they made a written promise not to do this again in the future, Hashimi says.
The restaurant is still empty in the morning.
The management of the restaurant welcomes the Taliban in a friendly manner.
The leader takes the morality police to see the recently completed prayer room.
– Mashallah, mashallah, the moral police are hogging.
That is, as Allah willed.
The Istanbul restaurant attracts the elite, which is why you can still see women here, mostly with their families.
The restaurant is divided into a family side and a men’s side. Men cannot enter the family side without female companions. This was the case even when the Taliban was not in power.
– You have a really good system here, Hashimi cheers.
Women’s clothing is still a problem for the Taliban
Now the shopping center has been inspected. The moral police walk in a line towards the biggest park in the center. The street vendors greeted them.
The Taliban set up a temporary checkpoint on the side of the road.
After a while, they are already stopping the cars at a fast pace.
The morality police peek into the cars, shake the drivers’ hands and tell them to pray five times a day. After a short conversation, the motorists are allowed to continue their journey.
The morality police also stop taxis. Ministry of Virtues and Vices has prescribed, that women must have a proper hijab or a male relative with them on longer trips. Not all taxi drivers want to take women anymore because of the strict rules.
However, these gentlemen do not interfere with women’s clothing. It is done by female police officers working under the Ministry of the Interior.
According to Hashim, the biggest problem in the center of Kabul is related to women’s clothing. To the fact that so many people lack a proper hijab.
– Usage will improve.
Most women wear a long coat. Many people cover their faces with masks. Hashim thinks that’s enough.
– A burka would still be better, he can’t help but say.
As soon as the Taliban came to power in 2021, women were still allowed to visit parks. The Taliban divided the days of the week into men’s and women’s days until, in November 2022, women were denied access to the parks entirely.
– Now women don’t try to go to parks anymore. They are walked on sidewalks, but not in parks, Hashimi states.
Wouldn’t parks be a safer place for women than the streets?
The moral police admit they have thought about this. According to spokesperson Akif, the ban was imposed because women did not wear a proper hijab in the parks.
– If they follow the rules of the Koran and our prophet, we can talk to the upper management and make it easier to enter the parks, he states.
People don’t dare to talk about the moral police on camera
And what do the people of Kabul think of the Taliban’s moral police? After saying goodbye to the whitecoats, we go to a nearby bazaar.
No trader wants to talk about it. The fear is that the Taliban would close their shops. Its traders say that the moral police make regular visits. Especially on Fridays, the Muslim holy day. That’s when they make sure the shops close their doors for Friday prayers in the afternoon.
If you don’t close your shop, you will be fined around 30 euros. The store will also be closed for a week, says one clothing retailer.
Mannequins or photographs adorn the windows of bazaar shops. The heads of the dolls have been removed and the faces of the pictures have been covered or blackened with spray paint. What do merchants think about face coverings?
– During the Taliban’s previous reign, women were forced to wear a burqa. Now it is not required. Who knows, maybe in 2030 pictures of faces and doll heads will be allowed, one ponders cautiously.
There is a complaint commission in the Ministry of Virtues and Vices. There you can complain about the Taliban’s armed forces and members of the civilian administration.
A shopkeeper elsewhere says he saw a video of moral police slapping a person in the face. No one admits to having experienced anything unpleasant with the moral police.
It is already late in the afternoon in Kabul.
The moral police disappear back to the police station.
You don’t run into them in the city anymore. You can still feel the presence in the blackened windows of the shops.