The Taliban have launched a religious inquisition targeting doctors and medical staff at Kabul’s Ali Abad Hospital, according to internal documents obtained by Afghanistan International.
The documents reveal that Khalil-ur-Rahman, the hospital’s mosque cleric and a representative of the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, has been conducting what he described as “ideological inspections” of doctors and specialists.
In a message sent to the hospital’s WhatsApp working group, Mullah Khalil-ur-Rahman distributed a list of medical personnel and ordered them to report to the hospital mosque on Tuesday to answer religious questions.
In a separate voice message, he warned that all doctors and staff must attend the session, adding that anyone who failed to appear would be “responsible for the consequences.”
This kind of ideological screening is not unique to Ali Abad Hospital. The Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has reportedly established units across government ministries and departments to monitor employees’ beliefs and enforce strict religious codes, including growing beards, wearing Taliban-style clothing, and attending daily congregational prayers.
Earlier reports indicated that similar tests have been conducted among staff at the Ministry of Public Health. Over the past four years, thousands of Afghan university professors have left the country as the Taliban’s religious police expanded surveillance and religious questioning of students and academics.
The Taliban have also appointed clerics educated solely in traditional religious seminaries, many lacking modern education or administrative experience, to senior positions in ministries and public institutions, further tightening ideological control over Afghanistan’s state apparatus.
