Shafiullah Azam, Director of Economic Relations at the Taliban’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has implicitly responded to recent remarks by Khalid Hanafi, the Taliban’s Minister for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, stating that Afghanistan needs internal unity and constructive engagement with the world more than anything else.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday, Shafiullah Azam wrote that Afghanistan has recently emerged from years of internal and external wars and is like a wounded nation. He said that soothing the people, reducing poverty, and winning the trust and satisfaction of citizens are religious and national responsibilities of government officials and every informed individual. He also emphasized that the country must be kept away from existing tensions and conflicts in the region and the world.
Although Shafiullah Azam did not directly name Khalid Hanafi, his comments are widely seen as a reference to the Minister for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice’s remarks about the state of Islam in Uzbekistan. Hanafi had claimed that in Uzbekistan “only the name of Islam remains,” asserting that because Islamic rulings are not implemented in Samarkand, Bukhara, and Termez, Islam exists only on the tongues of the people.
Uzbekistan has not yet issued an official response to these statements. Meanwhile, Shafiullah Azam reiterated that the current conditions in Afghanistan require strengthening internal unity, increasing trust between the people, and improving relations with the international community.
Some analysts believe these remarks indicate the existence of differing views within the Taliban government regarding foreign policy and certain domestic approaches.
Writer:Saeed Sameer
