AFGHANISTAN - Human Rights Under Attack
Amid many other global crises, the human rights situation in Afghanistan has been overshadowed in the international media. Millions of people continue to suffer from systemic rights violations under the Taliban-run government, a UN report has found.
Ismailism is a branch of Shia Islam, while Sunni Islam is the dominant religion in Afghanistan. Most members of the Ismaili community live in the country’s northern provinces, such as Badakhshan or Baghlan. In the former, there have been at least 50 cases of members of the Ismaili community being forced to convert to the Sunni faith. Those who refused to do so were subjected to physical assaults, coercion and death threats.
Historically, the country was a significant center of religious diversity, but there are very few members of non-Muslim communities left in Afghanistan today.
The last members of the Jewish community left the country in September 2021. Those Christians who still live there tend to practice their faith in secret. And the Hazaras, another ethnic minority in Afghanistan who are predominantly Shiite, continue to be persecuted.
Most independent media outlets have been banned or placed under the control of the state. Journalists who criticize the regime risk being arrested and tortured.
Under the Taliban, the country has also been plunged into an even more catastrophic socioeconomic crisis. Some 64% of the population of 41.5 million lives in poverty, according to the UN, with 50% dependent on humanitarian aid for survival and 14% suffering from acute hunger.
-www.dw.com, 18 May 2025
Arno's Commentary
This nation with a population of 40+ million is in horrible shape when it comes to human rights. The CIA Factbook lists life expectancy at only 54.4 years.
According to a Google search, communism failed: “The Soviet Afghan War was a major conflict that took place in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. The Soviet Union intervened to support a struggling communist regime.”
That can also be said for capitalism: “The Islamic fundamentalist group returned to power in Afghanistan in 2021 after waging an insurgency against the US-backed government in Kabul since 2001.”
Now, religion rules. That, as history reveals, leads to turmoil. The suffering of the Afghan people under religious rule (the Taliban) is indescribable. Yet the religious leaders continue to insist that they will eventually build a prosperous and peaceful society. Not so. In the modern world, liberalism and cooperation among all residents of a country is the key to building a well-functioning society.
We ask, what does the Bible say? When it comes to believers, 1 Corinthians 7:12-13 states: “But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away. And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him.”
In regard to relationships with other religions, Paul writes: “For if any man see thee which hast knowledge sit at meat in the idol’s temple, shall not the conscience of him which is weak be emboldened to eat those things which are offered to idols” (1 Corinthians 8:10). That is super liberal. What has a believer to do in a “idol’s temple”? Paul apparently allows for such a possibility.
But James cautions, “whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God” (James 4:4b).
Arno Froese is the executive director of Midnight Call Ministries and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed prophetic magazines Midnight Call and News From Israel. He has authored a number of well-received books, and has sponsored many prophecy conferences in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. His extensive travels have contributed to his keen insight into Bible prophecy, as he sees it from an international perspective.
