Reclusive Taliban leader releases end-of-Ramadan message

ISLAMABAD — The reclusive top leader of the Taliban released a message Tuesday lauding the changes in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover and the measures they imposed after seizing the country following two decades of war. This, he instructed Afghans, would lead to the “well-being of our world and the hereafter, as well as eternal happiness, success and salvation of our society.” Despite initial promises of a more moderate rule than during their previous stint in power in the 1990s, the Taliban have imposed harsh measures since seizing Afghanistan in August 2021 as U.S. and NATO forces were pulling out. Michael Kugelman, the deputy director of the Asia program and senior associate for South Asia at the Wilson Center, said Akhundzada’s message was likely an attempt to unite Afghans, including factions feuding within the Taliban, by invoking their religious ideology. In highlighting Taliban efforts to combat poppy production and an anti-corruption campaign, the message may also have been an attempt to shore up Taliban legitimacy in the eyes of the Afghans, said Kugelman. Tuesday’s message came just days after the Taliban shared a rare, months-old audio message from Akhundzada in which he purportedly says that Afghanistan would be “ruined” without justice handed out by the country’s new rulers.