Taliban share rare audio message from supreme leader in Afghanistan
- Hibatullah Akhundzada, an Islamic scholar, almost never appears in public and hardly ever leaves the Taliban heartland in southern Kandahar province
- ‘If there is no justice, and there is oppression, selfishness, murders and revenge, as well as killings without courts, this country will be ruined,’ he said
The Taliban have shared a rare audio message from their supreme leader, who says justice is an instrument for the Afghan government’s survival.
Hibatullah Akhundzada, an Islamic scholar, almost never appears in public and hardly ever leaves the Taliban heartland in southern Kandahar province. He surrounds himself with other religious scholars and allies who oppose education and work for women. Only one known photo of him, years old, exists.
Akhundzada has travelled to Kabul only once since the August 2021 Taliban takeover to give a speech to a gathering of clerics, although he was not shown in media coverage at the closed event and appeared with his back to the audience.
In his audio message, shared on Twitter on Wednesday by the Taliban’s main spokesman Zabihullah militant, Akhundzada said justice is an instrument for the government’s survival.
“But if there is no justice, and there is oppression, selfishness, murders and revenge, as well as killings without courts, this country will be ruined”, Akhundzada can be heard saying. “This oppression can be prevented through the right decision of religious scholars and its proper implementation by the government”.
It has not been possible to independently verify that the voice on the audio message is Akhundzada’s.