PESHAWAR: The Afghan Taliban on Wednesday said there was a complete ban on activities of political parties in Afghanistan.

“Political parties’ activities have been completely stopped in the country because neither do these parties have any standing in Sharia, any place in Sharia nor are any natio­nal interests atta­ched to these parties or the nation liked them,” Interim Minister for Justice, Sha­ikh Maulavi Abdul Hak­eem Sharae said while presenting ann­ual report of his ministry in Kabul, according to a statement issued by the Afghan Taliban’s media outlet.

The statement demonstrates that the Afghan Taliban may continue to monopolise power as a movement and have no intention of allowing political plurality in the country.

It wasn’t clear when the ban was imposed, but the Afghan Taliban have been resisting international pressure to form a more inclusive government, saying their ‘interim government’ had representatives from all ethnicities and tribes and was broad-based.

The Afghan Taliban have been opposed to including what they call “discredited and puppet politicians” from the previous dispensation, saying their participation would be a betrayal of their long struggle against foreign occupation forces and their “puppets” and “stooges.”

While the Taliban government has generally disallowed political activities from the get-go, this is widely being seen as the first official statement in this regard.

Published in Dawn, August 17th, 2023