Ban On Afghan Girls’ Education Has No Religious Justification, Say Pak Clerics

Germany’s Interior Ministry said the refugees arrived on Monday on a charter flight from Islamabad to the northern city of Hanover. The transfer is part of an accelerated process to relocate Afghans stranded in Pakistan who had received formal admission pledges from Berlin.

German media reported that the flight was organised by the federal government and included 123 people from Germany’s so-called human rights list, as well as 18 former local employees of German institutions or their family members.

After arriving in Hanover, the refugees are expected to be resettled across several German states.
According to available information, at least 45 former local employees and 246 Afghans deemed at risk because of their human rights or media work remain in Pakistan awaiting relocation.

Pakistan has given Germany until the end of the calendar year, eight days from now, to remove all Afghan refugees holding German admission pledges. Pakistani authorities have warned that those who remain could face deportation to Afghanistan.

Germany’s interior minister said the relocation process would be completed within the deadline, but acknowledged that the review of some cases and the transfer of certain individuals could be delayed until next year.

After the Taliban seized power in August 2021, Germany launched special programmes to evacuate Afghan local staff, activists and journalists. However, domestic political opposition to migration has since intensified. The Merz government, which came to power pledging to reduce refugee numbers, began implementing the transfer of Afghans with admission pledges after significant delays.

The government has said it will honour commitments made by the previous administration but has indicated it has no plans to relocate hundreds of other Afghan refugees who have been waiting for months to move to Western countries.

In a Facebook post on Monday, December 22, Dawoodzai responded to remarks by Asim Munir, who claimed that most fighters of Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) are Afghans. Dawoodzai said that if Munir was referring to Afghans living beyond the Durand Line, the claim might carry some weight, but stressed that the Afghan Taliban make up less than 5 percent of Afghanistan’s population and do not represent the nation.

He said Afghans have repeatedly made clear that they harbour no hostility toward the people of Pakistan.

Dawoodzai, who also served as Afghanistan’s ambassador to Pakistan, said Islamabad’s primary conflict is with the TTP and possibly with the Afghan Taliban, and that the issue should not be framed as a confrontation with Afghan civilians or used to target Afghan migrants.

He recalled that thousands of TTP leaders were released from Afghan prisons in August 2021, noting that Pakistani Taliban fighters once fought alongside the Afghan Taliban against the former Afghan government but now seek to overthrow the Pakistani state.

Dawoodzai warned that broad generalisations and the avoidance of responsibility would only deepen tensions rather than resolve them. He said the situation requires transparency, honest policymaking and an acknowledgment of past mistakes, not collective blame directed at an entire nation.

Munir made his remarks at a national conference of religious scholars in Islamabad on December 10, which were reported by Pakistani media on Sunday, December 21. He warned that Pakistan would not tolerate threats to its security or sovereignty from TTP fighters based in Afghanistan.

Civil servants told Afghanistan International that officers from the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, acting on orders from the department’s head in Khost, have been visiting government offices to inspect employees’ appearance, particularly their beards.

According to the employees, staff in several offices have faced insults, threats and humiliation solely because their beards are considered too short, despite being civilian workers with no political or criminal background.

They said anyone whose beard does not meet the preferences of the local morality police chief or who lacks a personal relationship with him comes under pressure and risks dismissal.

A staff member at the Khost Telecommunications Directorate said officials had been told their beards must be at least a fist-length and that hair below the ears must not be trimmed.

Sources said the practice is under way in several departments, including Khost Municipality, the Telecommunications Directorate and the Department of Labour and Social Affairs.

The complaints come as Taliban morality police in Kandahar have reportedly detained about 15 young men over the past two days for having short or shaved beards, removing them from restaurants.

In a statement issued on Monday, December 22, the Taliban Supreme Court said the Kabul Primary Court for the Prevention of Narcotics punished the individuals for selling and trafficking tablet K, methamphetamine, cannabis and alcoholic beverages.

According to figures compiled by Afghanistan International, the Taliban have flogged at least 106 people, including 13 women, across Afghanistan over the past 10 days.

The Taliban describe corporal punishment imposed by courts under their control as the enforcement of Islamic sharia. Despite repeated criticism from international organisations over public floggings and the torture of detainees, the group has continued to carry out such punishments, often in public.

A recent report by the United Nations said the Taliban flogged at least 215 people, 44 women and 171 men, in several provinces between August 1 and October 31.

Following a two-day meeting in Islamabad, the Tehreek Tahaffuz-e-Ain Pakistan coalition said in a statement that it supports reopening border crossings between Afghanistan and Pakistan and resuming bilateral trade.

The opposition also urged the government to take immediate steps to improve security in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, which has seen a rise in violence in recent months.

The statement criticised actions by Pakistani authorities against opposition groups, including a crackdown on Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf led by Imran Khan. It alleged the party has faced unlawful measures such as fabricated cases and humiliating treatment.

Opposition leaders called for the release of all political prisoners, including Imran Khan and his wife.

The meeting of opposition parties, held on Saturday and Sunday under the banner of the Tehreek Tahaffuz-e-Ain Pakistan coalition, concluded with a 12-point declaration outlining their political and security demands.