Anamullah Samangani, the Taliban’s head of Information and Culture in Kandahar, has claimed that in today’s Afghanistan, nothing exists under the designation of “national.”
Speaking about the status of government institutions and national identity, Samangani said that neither the Ministry of Defense, state radio, the army and police, nor even Afghanistan’s two official languages, Pashto and Dari, can be described as national.
His remarks come amid an ongoing debate within the Taliban administration over the use and meaning of the term “national.” Previously, the Inspector General of the Taliban’s Ministry of Defense had said that while Dari and Pashto are Afghanistan’s official languages, “only Pashto is the national language.”
Meanwhile, Afghanistan International reported that it obtained a document from the month of Saur this year showing that Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada ordered the word “national” to be removed from the names of government institutions.
According to the reported directive, the term “national” has subsequently been removed from the names of several government agencies, with the word “public” being used instead.
The developments have sparked further questions about how the Taliban leadership defines national institutions, identity and language under its current administration. The contrasting statements regarding Pashto and Dari also highlight continuing sensitivities surrounding Afghanistan’s linguistic and cultural identity.