Statement by the Afghanistan Freedom Front (AFF)
On the Report “The Human Rights Situation of Ismaili Shias in Afghanistan”
December 26, 2025
The Afghanistan Freedom Front welcomes the publication of the comprehensive report by the Rawadari organisation titled “The Human Rights Situation of Ismaili Shias in Afghanistan” and considers it one of the most significant human rights documents addressing the condition of religious minorities in Afghanistan since the Taliban’s return to illegitimate power.
The report clearly demonstrates that Ismaili Shias in Afghanistan have, for more than four years, been subjected to targeted, organized, and systematic discrimination and religious persecution. Its findings show that these violations are not isolated incidents, but rather part of a broader, deliberate policy of exclusion, repression, and religious oppression that, in certain respects, may reach the threshold of crimes against humanity.
According to the report, Ismaili Shias have been entirely excluded from political, administrative, and social participation. They have been removed from decision-making structures and denied access to government institutions, security bodies, and the judiciary, solely on the basis of their religious identity, even in areas where they constitute a significant or majority population.
The report further establishes that freedom of religion and belief for Ismailis has been effectively eliminated. Fear of harassment, intimidation, public denunciation, detention, and violence has forced many individuals to conceal their religious identity or to comply with religious practices imposed upon them. This constitutes a grave violation of the fundamental right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.
One of the most alarming findings of the report is the systematic promotion of hate speech and religious takfir against Ismaili Shias by Taliban-affiliated institutions, clerics, and official educational structures. The normalization of religious defamation and dehumanizing language has severely undermined the safety, dignity, and social inclusion of the Ismaili community, the while fostering an environment conducive to further abuse and violence.
The report also documents cases of forced religious conversion, coercive religious education of Ismaili children, and severe reprisals against families who resist these practices, including threats, fines, torture, forced displacement, and destruction of property. Such actions constitute serious violations of the rights of the child and the absolute prohibition of forced conversion under international human rights law.
Additionally, the report highlights widespread social, economic, and familial discrimination, including bans on marriage and kinship ties, forced annulment of marriages, economic marginalization, confiscation of property, denial of access to justice, and systematic social ostracism, all of which amount to profound violations of human dignity and equality.
The Afghanistan Freedom Front considers the treatment of Ismaili Shias in Afghanistan to constitute serious, ongoing, and targeted violations of international human rights law. These abuses threaten not only the survival of the Ismaili community, but also the fundamental principles of religious diversity, peaceful coexistence, and human dignity in Afghanistan.
Discriminatory actions based on religion, ethnicity, language, and geography are part of the Taliban’s political culture and are a growing source of concern for us regarding the collapse of society and the disintegration of the foundations of peaceful coexistence among the human communities living in Afghanistan.
We call upon the United Nations, the Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, and all states and institutions committed to human rights to take urgent, coordinated, and effective action to protect Ismaili Shias, to halt these violations, and to ensure accountability for those responsible.
Silence in the face of systematic religious persecution is not neutrality. It is complicity.
Afghanistan Freedom Front
