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Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, Taliban Minister of Vice and Virtue.
KABUL, Afghanistan — Khalid Hanafi, the Taliban’s vice and virtue minister, at a gathering in Kabul called non-Muslims — including Hindus and Sikhs — as “worse than four-legged animals,” raising renewed fears for the safety and dignity of Afghanistan’s religious minorities under Taliban rule.
In his speech urging ideological training for public employees, Hanafi said that while non-Muslims might perform administrative duties, their beliefs render them morally inferior.
“Disbelievers carry out administrative work — polytheists, Jews, Christians, Hindus, Sikhs — but they are like four-legged animals,” Hanafi said. “They hold beliefs that go against Sharia and the Quran.”
He added that civil servants under Taliban authority must be educated in “Taliban ideology” and Islamic jurisprudence.
The remarks have drawn sharp criticism from rights advocates and members of minority communities, many of whom have already fled Afghanistan since the Taliban’s return to power in August 2021. Once small but visible, the country’s Hindu and Sikh populations have dwindled dramatically, with most now living in exile, particularly in India and Canada.
The United Nations and numerous international human rights organizations have repeatedly urged the Taliban to protect the rights of all Afghan citizens, regardless of religion or ethnicity. Taliban officials have routinely insisted that minorities are safe under their rule, though incidents of targeted rhetoric, restrictions, and forced displacement have continued to surface.
Hanafi’s comments follow years of steady deterioration in religious freedom in Afghanistan. Rights monitors say such language not only endangers remaining minority groups but also undermines the Taliban’s efforts to gain diplomatic recognition and access to foreign aid.
There has been no public response from senior Taliban leadership addressing Hanafi’s statements.
