What do the Taliban believe?

Beyond Belief

It’s a month since Afghanistan entered a new era under the 'Taliban 2.0'. Foreign forces have gone and the eyes of the world are fixed on how they will govern their ‘Islamic Emirate’.

Many of those who remember life under the Taliban the first time around in the 1990s are not hopeful. They describe an oppressive regime, justified Islamically through an extremely narrow interpretation of sharia law. Women couldn’t work, girls couldn’t go to school; there was a strict dress code for men and women; music, TV and cinema were banned. There were brutal punishments for those who stepped out of line. Ethnic and religious minorities were targeted and killed.

Mobeen Azhar and guests explore what the Taliban believe, how they have justified their actions theologically and whether any of those core beliefs are likely to change.

Contributors: Dr Sayed Hassan Akhlaq - Afghan-Iranian philosopher at Coppin State University in Baltimore, who has specialised in Islamic theology; Dr Haroun Rahimi - Assistant Professor of Law at the American University of Afghanistan; John Mohammed Butt - Islamic scholar and graduate of Darul Uloom Deoband in India; Dr Weeda Mehran - lecturer at the Department of Politics at the University of Exeter, who grew up in Afghanistan in the 1990s.

Producer: Dan Tierney Editor: Helen Grady.