Taliban

Taliban rulers in Afghanistan have banned female students from attending universities effective immediately.

A coalition of Evangelical Christian leaders and organizations are asking Congress to approve legislation that would allow Afghans who evacuated Afghanistan after the Taliban took over the nation to become legal permanent residents.

For the first time in two decades, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom is recommending that Afghanistan be designated as a major violator of religious freedom due to what it calls a significant deterioration of freedom in that country.

On Tuesday, religious freedom advocacy group International Christian Concern (ICC) named the Taliban, Kim Jong-un, and Nigeria the top 3 Christian persecutors of 2021.

According to the Associated Press, the U.S. will provide humanitarian aid to Afghanistan but will not officially recognize the Taliban as the country's leaders.

That the Taliban is encountering resistance in their quest to be recognized as the official government of Afghanistan should not come as a surprise. That they want to be legitimized on the global level, however, is an even more important development.

A group of GOP Senators sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging the State Department to designate the Taliban as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.

Thanks to the work of a faith-based organization and the Italian military, three Afghan Christian families were able to escape the danger of life under the Taliban.

Historians trace the Taliban’s origins to the early and mid-1990s, when Afghanistan was facing social upheaval after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The word “Taliban” means “students” in Pashto, one of the languages spoken in Afghanistan. The Taliban is a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. 

In a recent video released Wednesday, an anonymous Afghan Christian describes the situation he and other believers are facing under Taliban rule. “We will fight harder and will continue in God’s work. If we are no longer with you, remember this word from our unbroken hearts,” he says. “But please remember us – the great difficulties we now face."