- Legal historians and pundits traced the origins of the Taliban to Deobandism, an Islamic movement led by a Sunnī scholar from India, that was based on reactionary reflexes against British colonialism.
- During their first news conference following their takeover of Afghanistan, the Taliban declared that women would continue to enjoy their rights and freedoms under the new regime, “within Islamic law.”
- The Taliban’s new supreme leader, Haibatullah Akhundzada, urged the new Taliban government to uphold sharī’a.
- The Taliban’s new supreme leader also commented that all laws of and international commitments entered into by the previous government would continue to be enforced, to the extent that they are “not in conflict with Islamic law.”
- Mehbooba Mufti, a Muslim female politician who formerly led a separatist movement in Kashmir, urged the Taliban to uphold women’s rights, commenting that “[t]he real Medina charter stipulates equal rights for men, women and minorities.”
- A Taliban spokesperson recently stated that the Afghan women’s cricket team would be dissolved because their attire does not conform to Islamic law.
- Various news outlets have reported on the fears of non-Sunnī Muslim minorities in Afghanistan under Taliban rule.
For more content and context on the recent developments in Afghanistan, consult our Editor-in-Chief, Professor Intisar Rabb‘s “Resource Roundup: Afghanistan, the Taliban, and Islamic Law.“