Fully Authoritarian
World’s Population
Population
HRF classifies Afghanistan as ruled by a fully authoritarian regime.
Afghanistan has experienced various types of government since its independence in 1919, including a presidential system (2004-2021), following the end of a theocratic takeover by the Islamic fundamentalist militia group, Taliban (1996-2001). A constitution was enacted in 2004 with separation of powers between the legislative, executive, and judiciary. The last democratic elections took place in 2019, albeit with electoral discrepancies and alleged electoral fraud, with Ashraf Ghani declared as the victor. However, in August 2021, two decades of democratic political transition were undone when the Taliban toppled the democratically elected government of President Ashraf Ghani to form an Islamic Emirate. The Taliban de facto regime abolished the 2004 Constitution, dismantling the legislative, executive, and judicial systems. The Taliban rule is marked by repressive policies, particularly targeted against women, independent media, human rights advocates, and anti-Taliban protesters. All policy is issued by the Taliban regime, with extensive control over all key institutions, including the court systems. Protesters and dissenters of the regime are met with severe crackdowns and human rights violations. Future elections remain highly unlikely under the Taliban regime, with democratic elections viewed to be in contradiction with Islamic laws.
National elections under the Taliban regime are absent, rendering moot assessment of electoral competition. In August 2021, the Taliban overthrew the democratic government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (2004-2021) and established the Islamic Emirate. The Taliban eliminated all political opposition within the country, with former administration leaders living in exile. The de facto regime banned all political parties and political activities of organizations across Afghanistan. Independent electoral oversight bodies have been dismantled, with no elections in the nation, with the exception of local neighbourhood elections overseen and tightly regulated by the Taliban.
Independent media, political leaders, civil society organizations, and members of the general public face overt and systematic retaliation if they openly criticize or challenge the Taliban regime. The Taliban shut down hundreds of independent media across Afghanistan and issued severe restrictions on broadcasting and publishing content. The Taliban regime issued decrees and legislation that severely restricted the freedom of speech and expression for independent journalists, and targeted them through raids, detentions, and arrests. The Taliban also targeted anti-Taliban protesters and human rights advocates across the country to curtail dissent against the regime.
Institutions in Afghanistan largely fail to serve as independent checks on the regime. The Taliban regime abolished the legislative and executive branches of the Islamic Republic and concentrated all power among a few handpicked Taliban members, led by the supreme leader (emir). The judicial system has been dismantled and replaced by Taliban-appointed individuals, following the Taliban’s interpretation of Sharia law. The supreme leader sits at the apex of political and legislative authority, and his power remains unconstrained. All policies, interpretations of the law, and judgments are issued through decrees of the supreme leader, or his approved Taliban legislative bodies or ministries, or appointed judges, respectively.
Under the Taliban regime, national elections are absent, rendering moot assessment of electoral competition. The Taliban overthrew the democratic administration of the Islamic Republic, abolishing all institutional frameworks. Constitutionally mandated elections are rendered moot. The Taliban banned all political parties and all political activities, rendering no political opposition within Afghanistan. Key independent electoral bodies that oversee all Afghan elections have been abolished.
The democratically elected government of Ashraf Ghani was overthrown by the Taliban through a coup d’etat. Following the withdrawal of United States (US) troops, the Taliban overthrew the Afghan government in August 2021, ousting its executive and abolishing the legislature of the Islamic Republic, acting directly in violation of the 2004 Constitution. As the Taliban abolished the constitution, no national elections were proclaimed for the foreseeable future. The Taliban deemed democratic elections inconsistent with Islam. Elections within Afghanistan are exclusive to local neighbourhood representatives (“wakilon guzar”), where people cast their votes in ballot boxes or by raising their hands during gatherings at mosques. In April 2022, such neighbourhood elections were held across the Kabul municipality, where the Taliban allowed for ballot box casting with new regulations for candidates based on certain moral principles,such as being a good Muslim.
There is no real political opposition within Afghanistan. The Taliban regime has systematically and unfairly barred real, mainstream opposition parties or candidates from competing in elections. After ousting the members of the previous administration, the Taliban occupied all leadership positions across the country, monopolizing all political and judicial authority. The Taliban barred those candidates who served in the intelligence service of the former administration from competing in neighbourhood elections. In August 2023, the regime banned all political parties within Afghanistan, with the Taliban’s de facto justice minister announcing the ban as political parties serve no purpose under Sharia law. The de facto regime proclaimed a ban on all engagements in political activities. From March 2023 to March 2024, more than 75 social organizations were put under review by the Taliban’s security agencies due to “illegal activities,” including political activities. Opposition to the Taliban regime comes primarily from rights advocates and leaders in exile, who promote a democratic Afghanistan.
The Taliban regime has systematically and seriously undermined independent electoral oversight. In December 2021, the Taliban dissolved the Independent Election Commission (IEC) and the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) established in 2006 to oversee the conduct of all types of elections in the Islamic Republic, including the Presidential elections. The de facto regime declared the abolition of the panel, citing that it was formed by a Western-backed administration and now serves no purpose. Several officials of the election commission were killed by the Taliban in 2019 before their takeover. The Taliban justice minister announced that these commissions might be revived, should the regime require it in the future.
Independent media, civil society leaders, organizations, and members of the general public face overt and systematic retaliation if they openly criticize or challenge the Taliban regime. News outlets have been shut down, and hundreds of journalists have been detained and sentenced for dissenting against the repressive policies. The Taliban have led violent raids, stopped funding channels of several civil society organizations, and frequently led severe crackdowns against human rights, anti-Taliban, and women’s rights protesters and advocates who were targeted, detained, and assaulted across the country since the takeover. Draconian laws further restrict freedom of speech and expression of the media and the general public.
The Taliban regime systematically and unfairly shut down major independent, dissenting organizations. Since their takeover in 2021, the Taliban shut down operations of hundreds of Afghan news outlets as part of the repressive policies of the regime. In 2024, the Taliban banned at least 12 public and private media outlets, citing their “transgressive” content that includes music, fiction, and depiction of living creatures. The 2024 morality law, “Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vices,” banned all images depicting living creatures. Any media outlet found violating this law was temporarily or permanently shut down. In December 2022, the regime banned all female staff from working at civil society organizations (CSOs) and threatened to shut down all CSOs that continued to employ women.
The Taliban systematically intimidated independent, dissenting media, political leaders, civil society leaders, organizations, and members of the general public. Afghanistan ranked 175th out of 180 countries on the 2025 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters without Borders. Since 2021, the report assessed that 141 journalists were imprisoned or detained, subjected to torture, intimidation, and beatings by the regime’s General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI). In September 2021, two reporters for the Etilaatroz newspaper, Taqi Daryabi and Nematullah Naqdi, were detained by the Taliban for reporting on women’s protests in Kabul. During their detention, the Taliban tortured the journalists through floggings, beatings, and intimidation tactics. In May 2025, three journalists were detained in Takhar province, where the Taliban allegedly tortured them in custody under their criminal investigation department before they handed them over to their intelligence agency.
Prominent Afghan education advocates, university lecturers, and advocates for female education have also been targeted, detained, and sentenced for propagandizing and blasphemy. The Taliban regime particularly targeted female staff of CSOs and UN missions, including the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), where female employees were harassed, questioned, and banned from working in the aid sector. At the College Freedom Forum in October 2025, Roya Mahboob, Afghan women’s rights advocate and CEO of Digital Citizen Fund, explained the regime’s shutdown of centers focused on women’s STEM research in late 2022, and how 1.5 million Afghan women cannot complete their secondary education in the aftermath of the takeover.
The Taliban regime seriously and unfairly repressed protests or gatherings. The Taliban resorted to severe crackdowns, killings, detentions, torture, and assaults on protesters opposing its repressive policies and to repress any future dissent against the regime. In August 2021, the Taliban regime rounded up, beat, and opened fire on protesters during the anti-Taliban protests in Kabul. Journalists reporting on the subsequent protests across Kabul and Jalalabad were also detained and tortured, with footage erased and cameras confiscated to prevent any filming. Women-led protests and demonstrations against the Taliban in Kabul have been severely repressed, with Taliban members resorting to assaults, torture, and tasers against the protesters. In September 2021, the Taliban regime imposed a ban on all “unauthorized protests,” threatening “severe legal consequences” against the protesters. Following the ban, the regime met most subsequent unauthorized protests with brute force, with Taliban members physically and verbally abusing women protesters, using electric devices and chemical substances alongside arrests and detentions in other cases.
The Taliban regime has systematically, seriously, and unfairly censored dissenting speech. Several draconian laws imposed by the Taliban have led to the stifling of speech and censorship across Afghanistan. In September 2021, the regime issued an 11-point media guideline, among other vaguely worded directives, that prohibits all broadcasts against Islamic or Afghan values and “national interests” and insults to “national figures.” A 2025 directive titled “Policy for Holding Political Programmes (Roundtables) in Afghanistan” requires all media outlets to submit all political programs to the regime prior to broadcasting or publishing. This policy aims to curb any criticism of the regime’s policy or censor the language “within the framework of the (Taliban) law.” In September 2025, the regime also imposed a ban on the internet through fiber-optic connection across northern Afghanistan that prevented online access for education, news, and business for individuals and groups, particularly women, who rely solely on the internet for education following the regime’s ban on women’s education.
Institutions completely fail to serve as independent checks on the regime. The Taliban regime has dismantled the judicial system of the Islamic Republic and replaced all former judicial personnel – most of whom have been exiled or murdered – with handpicked individuals. The Taliban regime also abolished all institutional frameworks of the Islamic Republic, including the 2004 Constitution, which mandates separation of powers in government, concentrating all power to create and enforce policy in a small group of senior Taliban members instead.
Courts have systematically and unfairly failed to check the regime’s attempts to repress criticism or retaliate against those who express open opposition to its most prominent, widely publicized policies. In 2021, the Taliban dismantled the judicial system that separated secular and Sharia courts prescribed under the 2004 Constitution and ousted all the judges of the Islamic Republic, harassed or murdered them, and forced female judges into exile. Since August 2021, at least 57 prosecutors have been killed in Taliban attacks. The Taliban regime enforces Sharia exclusively, overseen by the Taliban-appointed individuals who bear the titles “Maulavi” (graduate of Islamic madrasa), “Shaykh” (with knowledge of prophetic tradition), and “Mufti” (qualification to issue authoritative answers on questions of Islamic law), all of whom likely trained under the Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence. The Taliban judicial system does not hold the capacity to check the regime’s policies but rather serves to legitimize the group as the de facto state in Afghanistan while carrying out legal proceedings within the purview of the regime’s strict interpretation of Sharia. On April 11, 2025, the de facto Supreme Court announced public execution of four men as part of the Taliban’s “Qisas” (“retribution in kind” – in reference to religious law) that elucidates the punishments as prescribed under Sharia.
The Taliban regime has systematically undermined institutional independence to the point where cases or issues challenging the regime are no longer brought or are frequently dismissed. In 2023, the Taliban abolished the Attorney General’s office, citing corruption and inefficiency. The office was transferred to an intelligence directorate that reports to the central leadership. Only a small proportion of criminal cases are put to trial in the formal criminal court system, while most punishments are delivered by local Taliban commanders and fighters. The Taliban fighters carry out punishments on the spot or after a brief on-site, ranging from public shaming, corporal punishments, and executions. In May 2025, the Taliban detained Abdul Qadir Qanat, a prominent Muslim cleric from Kabul, for criticizing the Taliban rule during a public gathering. A human rights advocate informed Radio Free Azadi that the regime’s treatment of the accused does not take into account any principles or law.
Judicial, legislative, or executive institutions have systematically failed to hold the Taliban regime accountable. The Taliban dismantled the legal and institutional frameworks wherein the Constitution, the legislature, and the judiciary remain abolished. As no separation of powers exists to uphold constitutional state laws, there is neither institutional independence nor accountability. The Taliban regime’s executive has been structured under a series of laws, including the Bill of the Council of Ministers, which includes a prime minister, deputies, and other ministries. Through the “Law of the Council of Ministers” and the “Law of the General Principles of Formation and Tasks of the Ministries and Administrations of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” (published in Official Gazette No. 797: 2001), the Taliban tasked the Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (MPVPV) to enforce public morality. In August 2024, the Taliban introduced the PVPV law, also known as the “morality law,” consisting of 35 articles that the MPVPV enforces. These laws come under the purview of the Taliban’s uncodified constitutional order, based on the “Hanafi fiqh” (a school of Islamic religious law) as the supreme law of the land. This mandates that all state institutions draw on the fiqh for drafting all legislative procedures and ensure they do not contradict the fiqh. The emir, elected by a small group of an all-male council of Taliban, holds absolute power and sits at the apex of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. He holds the power to legislate through his decrees that cannot be disobeyed, and his power and authority remain unchecked. The emir also holds the exclusive power to appoint and remove all officials of the legislative branch and remains the ultimate judge of the state’s compliance with Sharia and the Hanafi fiqh.
HRF classifies Afghanistan as ruled by a fully authoritarian regime.
Afghanistan has experienced various types of government since its independence in 1919, including a presidential system (2004-2021), following the end of a theocratic takeover by the Islamic fundamentalist militia group, Taliban (1996-2001). A constitution was enacted in 2004 with separation of powers between the legislative, executive, and judiciary. The last democratic elections took place in 2019, albeit with electoral discrepancies and alleged electoral fraud, with Ashraf Ghani declared as the victor. However, in August 2021, two decades of democratic political transition were undone when the Taliban toppled the democratically elected government of President Ashraf Ghani to form an Islamic Emirate. The Taliban de facto regime abolished the 2004 Constitution, dismantling the legislative, executive, and judicial systems. The Taliban rule is marked by repressive policies, particularly targeted against women, independent media, human rights advocates, and anti-Taliban protesters. All policy is issued by the Taliban regime, with extensive control over all key institutions, including the court systems. Protesters and dissenters of the regime are met with severe crackdowns and human rights violations. Future elections remain highly unlikely under the Taliban regime, with democratic elections viewed to be in contradiction with Islamic laws.
National elections under the Taliban regime are absent, rendering moot assessment of electoral competition. In August 2021, the Taliban overthrew the democratic government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (2004-2021) and established the Islamic Emirate. The Taliban eliminated all political opposition within the country, with former administration leaders living in exile. The de facto regime banned all political parties and political activities of organizations across Afghanistan. Independent electoral oversight bodies have been dismantled, with no elections in the nation, with the exception of local neighbourhood elections overseen and tightly regulated by the Taliban.
Independent media, political leaders, civil society organizations, and members of the general public face overt and systematic retaliation if they openly criticize or challenge the Taliban regime. The Taliban shut down hundreds of independent media across Afghanistan and issued severe restrictions on broadcasting and publishing content. The Taliban regime issued decrees and legislation that severely restricted the freedom of speech and expression for independent journalists, and targeted them through raids, detentions, and arrests. The Taliban also targeted anti-Taliban protesters and human rights advocates across the country to curtail dissent against the regime.
Institutions in Afghanistan largely fail to serve as independent checks on the regime. The Taliban regime abolished the legislative and executive branches of the Islamic Republic and concentrated all power among a few handpicked Taliban members, led by the supreme leader (emir). The judicial system has been dismantled and replaced by Taliban-appointed individuals, following the Taliban’s interpretation of Sharia law. The supreme leader sits at the apex of political and legislative authority, and his power remains unconstrained. All policies, interpretations of the law, and judgments are issued through decrees of the supreme leader, or his approved Taliban legislative bodies or ministries, or appointed judges, respectively.
Under the Taliban regime, national elections are absent, rendering moot assessment of electoral competition. The Taliban overthrew the democratic administration of the Islamic Republic, abolishing all institutional frameworks. Constitutionally mandated elections are rendered moot. The Taliban banned all political parties and all political activities, rendering no political opposition within Afghanistan. Key independent electoral bodies that oversee all Afghan elections have been abolished.
The democratically elected government of Ashraf Ghani was overthrown by the Taliban through a coup d’etat. Following the withdrawal of United States (US) troops, the Taliban overthrew the Afghan government in August 2021, ousting its executive and abolishing the legislature of the Islamic Republic, acting directly in violation of the 2004 Constitution. As the Taliban abolished the constitution, no national elections were proclaimed for the foreseeable future. The Taliban deemed democratic elections inconsistent with Islam. Elections within Afghanistan are exclusive to local neighbourhood representatives (“wakilon guzar”), where people cast their votes in ballot boxes or by raising their hands during gatherings at mosques. In April 2022, such neighbourhood elections were held across the Kabul municipality, where the Taliban allowed for ballot box casting with new regulations for candidates based on certain moral principles,such as being a good Muslim.
There is no real political opposition within Afghanistan. The Taliban regime has systematically and unfairly barred real, mainstream opposition parties or candidates from competing in elections. After ousting the members of the previous administration, the Taliban occupied all leadership positions across the country, monopolizing all political and judicial authority. The Taliban barred those candidates who served in the intelligence service of the former administration from competing in neighbourhood elections. In August 2023, the regime banned all political parties within Afghanistan, with the Taliban’s de facto justice minister announcing the ban as political parties serve no purpose under Sharia law. The de facto regime proclaimed a ban on all engagements in political activities. From March 2023 to March 2024, more than 75 social organizations were put under review by the Taliban’s security agencies due to “illegal activities,” including political activities. Opposition to the Taliban regime comes primarily from rights advocates and leaders in exile, who promote a democratic Afghanistan.
The Taliban regime has systematically and seriously undermined independent electoral oversight. In December 2021, the Taliban dissolved the Independent Election Commission (IEC) and the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) established in 2006 to oversee the conduct of all types of elections in the Islamic Republic, including the Presidential elections. The de facto regime declared the abolition of the panel, citing that it was formed by a Western-backed administration and now serves no purpose. Several officials of the election commission were killed by the Taliban in 2019 before their takeover. The Taliban justice minister announced that these commissions might be revived, should the regime require it in the future.
Independent media, civil society leaders, organizations, and members of the general public face overt and systematic retaliation if they openly criticize or challenge the Taliban regime. News outlets have been shut down, and hundreds of journalists have been detained and sentenced for dissenting against the repressive policies. The Taliban have led violent raids, stopped funding channels of several civil society organizations, and frequently led severe crackdowns against human rights, anti-Taliban, and women’s rights protesters and advocates who were targeted, detained, and assaulted across the country since the takeover. Draconian laws further restrict freedom of speech and expression of the media and the general public.
The Taliban regime systematically and unfairly shut down major independent, dissenting organizations. Since their takeover in 2021, the Taliban shut down operations of hundreds of Afghan news outlets as part of the repressive policies of the regime. In 2024, the Taliban banned at least 12 public and private media outlets, citing their “transgressive” content that includes music, fiction, and depiction of living creatures. The 2024 morality law, “Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vices,” banned all images depicting living creatures. Any media outlet found violating this law was temporarily or permanently shut down. In December 2022, the regime banned all female staff from working at civil society organizations (CSOs) and threatened to shut down all CSOs that continued to employ women.
The Taliban systematically intimidated independent, dissenting media, political leaders, civil society leaders, organizations, and members of the general public. Afghanistan ranked 175th out of 180 countries on the 2025 World Press Freedom Index by Reporters without Borders. Since 2021, the report assessed that 141 journalists were imprisoned or detained, subjected to torture, intimidation, and beatings by the regime’s General Directorate of Intelligence (GDI). In September 2021, two reporters for the Etilaatroz newspaper, Taqi Daryabi and Nematullah Naqdi, were detained by the Taliban for reporting on women’s protests in Kabul. During their detention, the Taliban tortured the journalists through floggings, beatings, and intimidation tactics. In May 2025, three journalists were detained in Takhar province, where the Taliban allegedly tortured them in custody under their criminal investigation department before they handed them over to their intelligence agency.
Prominent Afghan education advocates, university lecturers, and advocates for female education have also been targeted, detained, and sentenced for propagandizing and blasphemy. The Taliban regime particularly targeted female staff of CSOs and UN missions, including the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), where female employees were harassed, questioned, and banned from working in the aid sector. At the College Freedom Forum in October 2025, Roya Mahboob, Afghan women’s rights advocate and CEO of Digital Citizen Fund, explained the regime’s shutdown of centers focused on women’s STEM research in late 2022, and how 1.5 million Afghan women cannot complete their secondary education in the aftermath of the takeover.
The Taliban regime seriously and unfairly repressed protests or gatherings. The Taliban resorted to severe crackdowns, killings, detentions, torture, and assaults on protesters opposing its repressive policies and to repress any future dissent against the regime. In August 2021, the Taliban regime rounded up, beat, and opened fire on protesters during the anti-Taliban protests in Kabul. Journalists reporting on the subsequent protests across Kabul and Jalalabad were also detained and tortured, with footage erased and cameras confiscated to prevent any filming. Women-led protests and demonstrations against the Taliban in Kabul have been severely repressed, with Taliban members resorting to assaults, torture, and tasers against the protesters. In September 2021, the Taliban regime imposed a ban on all “unauthorized protests,” threatening “severe legal consequences” against the protesters. Following the ban, the regime met most subsequent unauthorized protests with brute force, with Taliban members physically and verbally abusing women protesters, using electric devices and chemical substances alongside arrests and detentions in other cases.
The Taliban regime has systematically, seriously, and unfairly censored dissenting speech. Several draconian laws imposed by the Taliban have led to the stifling of speech and censorship across Afghanistan. In September 2021, the regime issued an 11-point media guideline, among other vaguely worded directives, that prohibits all broadcasts against Islamic or Afghan values and “national interests” and insults to “national figures.” A 2025 directive titled “Policy for Holding Political Programmes (Roundtables) in Afghanistan” requires all media outlets to submit all political programs to the regime prior to broadcasting or publishing. This policy aims to curb any criticism of the regime’s policy or censor the language “within the framework of the (Taliban) law.” In September 2025, the regime also imposed a ban on the internet through fiber-optic connection across northern Afghanistan that prevented online access for education, news, and business for individuals and groups, particularly women, who rely solely on the internet for education following the regime’s ban on women’s education.
Institutions completely fail to serve as independent checks on the regime. The Taliban regime has dismantled the judicial system of the Islamic Republic and replaced all former judicial personnel – most of whom have been exiled or murdered – with handpicked individuals. The Taliban regime also abolished all institutional frameworks of the Islamic Republic, including the 2004 Constitution, which mandates separation of powers in government, concentrating all power to create and enforce policy in a small group of senior Taliban members instead.
Courts have systematically and unfairly failed to check the regime’s attempts to repress criticism or retaliate against those who express open opposition to its most prominent, widely publicized policies. In 2021, the Taliban dismantled the judicial system that separated secular and Sharia courts prescribed under the 2004 Constitution and ousted all the judges of the Islamic Republic, harassed or murdered them, and forced female judges into exile. Since August 2021, at least 57 prosecutors have been killed in Taliban attacks. The Taliban regime enforces Sharia exclusively, overseen by the Taliban-appointed individuals who bear the titles “Maulavi” (graduate of Islamic madrasa), “Shaykh” (with knowledge of prophetic tradition), and “Mufti” (qualification to issue authoritative answers on questions of Islamic law), all of whom likely trained under the Hanafi school of Islamic jurisprudence. The Taliban judicial system does not hold the capacity to check the regime’s policies but rather serves to legitimize the group as the de facto state in Afghanistan while carrying out legal proceedings within the purview of the regime’s strict interpretation of Sharia. On April 11, 2025, the de facto Supreme Court announced public execution of four men as part of the Taliban’s “Qisas” (“retribution in kind” – in reference to religious law) that elucidates the punishments as prescribed under Sharia.
The Taliban regime has systematically undermined institutional independence to the point where cases or issues challenging the regime are no longer brought or are frequently dismissed. In 2023, the Taliban abolished the Attorney General’s office, citing corruption and inefficiency. The office was transferred to an intelligence directorate that reports to the central leadership. Only a small proportion of criminal cases are put to trial in the formal criminal court system, while most punishments are delivered by local Taliban commanders and fighters. The Taliban fighters carry out punishments on the spot or after a brief on-site, ranging from public shaming, corporal punishments, and executions. In May 2025, the Taliban detained Abdul Qadir Qanat, a prominent Muslim cleric from Kabul, for criticizing the Taliban rule during a public gathering. A human rights advocate informed Radio Free Azadi that the regime’s treatment of the accused does not take into account any principles or law.
Judicial, legislative, or executive institutions have systematically failed to hold the Taliban regime accountable. The Taliban dismantled the legal and institutional frameworks wherein the Constitution, the legislature, and the judiciary remain abolished. As no separation of powers exists to uphold constitutional state laws, there is neither institutional independence nor accountability. The Taliban regime’s executive has been structured under a series of laws, including the Bill of the Council of Ministers, which includes a prime minister, deputies, and other ministries. Through the “Law of the Council of Ministers” and the “Law of the General Principles of Formation and Tasks of the Ministries and Administrations of Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan” (published in Official Gazette No. 797: 2001), the Taliban tasked the Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (MPVPV) to enforce public morality. In August 2024, the Taliban introduced the PVPV law, also known as the “morality law,” consisting of 35 articles that the MPVPV enforces. These laws come under the purview of the Taliban’s uncodified constitutional order, based on the “Hanafi fiqh” (a school of Islamic religious law) as the supreme law of the land. This mandates that all state institutions draw on the fiqh for drafting all legislative procedures and ensure they do not contradict the fiqh. The emir, elected by a small group of an all-male council of Taliban, holds absolute power and sits at the apex of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. He holds the power to legislate through his decrees that cannot be disobeyed, and his power and authority remain unchecked. The emir also holds the exclusive power to appoint and remove all officials of the legislative branch and remains the ultimate judge of the state’s compliance with Sharia and the Hanafi fiqh.
