Taliban Leader Orders Collection of Mentally Ill Patients Across All Provinces

KABUL (Kokcha.News) —** The Taliban has revealed that its leader, Mullah Haibatullah Akhundzada, recently issued a directive ordering the collection of mentally ill patients from all 34 provinces of Afghanistan. Abdul Manan Shahidzada, the head of the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Daikundi province, confirmed that the process of collecting mentally ill individuals has already begun in his region.

Shahidzada, speaking to the Taliban-controlled Radio National Afghanistan, stated that the leader’s order was issued to the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, mandating the collection of mentally ill patients across the country.

According to Shahidzada, the order was issued on the 8th of September this year, with the stated goals of “ensuring social order, preventing urban problems, and addressing the conditions of mentally ill patients.”

The Taliban official explained that provincial departments of the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice will collect mentally ill individuals and then hand them over to the Red Crescent, which is under Taliban control, and other relevant institutions.

This move comes after a controversial incident last year in October, when Taliban members shot and killed a mentally ill man who had prevented them from entering his home. According to eyewitnesses, the Taliban had attempted to forcibly take the 22-year-old man to their station.