The Taliban regime announced this Tuesday (11) the ban on any activity by public or private organizations from Sweden on the territory of Afghanistan. The move is in retaliation for the burning of the Koran, Islam’s holy book, at a protest near a Stockholm mosque last month.
“After insulting the holy Koran and allowing to offend Muslim beliefs, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan orders a halt to all activities in Sweden,” Zabiullah Mujahid, spokesman for the Taliban, said in a statement.
The Swedish government ordered the closure of the embassy in Afghanistan in 2021, when the Taliban regained power. Among the organizations that could be impacted by the measure is the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, which employs 7,400 staff in the country and develops activities in the areas of health and education.
The Swedish Committee for Afghanistan did not respond to Reuters requests for comment. The Taliban regime also did not provide details on which organizations will actually be affected by the measure.
The humanitarian aid sector in Afghanistan has suffered under the Taliban regime, which has implemented a series of restrictions. Last December, a decree by the extremist group prohibited women from working in NGOs in the country – the group claims that they were failing to comply with Islamic dress rules. Before that, the regime had already banned women from attending universities.
At the same time, reductions in the amount of funding for the annual humanitarian plan administered by the United Nations suggest that donor countries are pulling back on financial support.
The burning of the Koran took place at the end of June at the Great Mosque in Stockholm, on the first of the three days of Eid al-Adha, a celebration known as the “feast of sacrifice”. Iraqi refugee Salwan Momika, 37, tore leaves from a copy of the holy book, wiped the soles of his shoes with them and burned the book.
The next day, he stated that he did not regret the act and that he could do it again. To the newspaper Expressen, he said that he was aware of the consequences of the gesture and that he had received “thousands of death threats”.
The governments and leaders of Muslim countries, including Turkey, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan and Morocco, have criticized the act. The US and Pope Francis have also condemned the burning of the Koran.
In protest, thousands of supporters of Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr took to the streets in Baghdad, the Iraqi capital. Protesters held an act in front of the Swedish embassy in the city and demanded the end of diplomatic relations between the countries.
The Taliban reassumed rule of Afghanistan in August 2021. Last month, the group announced the second public execution of a convicted person since regaining power. The feathers show that Taliban leaders seek to repeat the darkest aspects of their way of seeing the world, despite having adapted to the new times. Soon after returning to power, the group promised moderation and broad rights to women, the main target of its repression.
A report released by the UN, however, indicates that the treatment given to Afghan women by the Taliban may amount to “gender apartheid”, as their rights continue to be infringed.
