Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada

8am: An audio recording of a speech by Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban Supreme Leader, has been obtained by the Hasht-e Subh Daily, in which he issued an order to close all schools, including both girls’ and boys’ schools, in Afghanistan. In the speech, Akhundzada compares the concept of school with that of a madrassa, stating that the “ethics” taught in schools corrupt people’s morals and change their views, thus schools should be shut down. He claims that the madrassa was created in opposition to the school, and the Taliban should establish madrassas instead of schools and send their children there. Akhundzada, in this comparison, refers to the result of school Pakistan’s former President Pervez Musharraf and in Afghanistan, former President Hamid Karzai as negative, whereas he presents the result of a madrassa as positive, representing himself and the Taliban. He then urges his audience to judge which system is more beneficial for Muslims in Afghanistan. Akhundzada also refers to “school knowledge” as “stomach knowledge,” stating that he does not want such knowledge. The exact date of this speech’s recording is unclear, but it was recorded in Quetta, Pakistan when he was a teacher at a madrassa, and it is now widely circulated among the Taliban. Click here to read more (external link).