On July 27th, a group of religious scholars from the United Kingdom, mostly of Indian, Pakistani and Arab origin, undertook what they consider a “fact-finding mission”, by travelling to Afghanistan under the protection of the Taliban de facto authorities in order to propagate and whitewash their systematic and ongoing oppressive actions. Going by the name of “Prosper Afghanistan”, during their visit, this group met with several Taliban ministers, including the notorious head of the Taliban’s Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the Foreign Minister, the Justice Minister, and the Minister of Higher Education. All members who have been complicit in mass-scale violence in Afghanistan and placed on the UN sanctions list. 

As concerned members of Afghanistan’s civil society and democratic forces, including media personalities, academics, human rights activists, artists, and politicians, among others, we urge British authorities to end the propaganda and disinformation campaign of these individuals and the organisations they represent. 

Since the Talibans’ usurpation of power, these figures in Britain, including an NHS chaplain, have undertaken a widespread propaganda campaign to whitewash the actions of the Taliban. This includes intellectualising the Taliban’s measures to deny girls and women of their basic and fundamental rights as part of what experts have considered a ‘gender apartheid’ in the country. 

Prosper Afghanistan and the facilitator of these trips, Human Aid & Advocacy, have recently announced that they will launch soon, and have arranged a trip and several meetings with high-ranking members of the Taliban in Afghanistan. Such trips are usually organised officially by the Taliban and justified under the guise of humanitarian reasons. We know that such attempts are part of the Taliban’s vying for international recognition as they commit egregious violations of international laws that have been well documented by authoritative human rights bodies.  

Hamid Mahmood, a member of the 'British Imams', in a series of opinion articles, urges the British Muslim community to be “more active in the affairs of this Muslim nation”. He has previously defended the Taliban’s measures to deny girls education beyond grade six and women from higher education justifying it as an effort to “decolonise the education system”. In line with the propaganda machinery of the Taliban, he understands the Taliban to have “defeated colonialism” through conflict compelling him to do the same “intellectually”. Mahmoud justifies his stance through distortions based on Islamic law and what he deems to be “Afghan culture”. 

These religious scholars, including Mahmoud, who are not from Afghanistan and do not represent the consensus of the larger Islamic community worldwide, do not understand the complexities of Afghanistan's socio-political and humanitarian crises. The Taliban are a known proxy force for regional and geopolitical competition. They rely on a version of Islam dominant in Pakistani madrassas (religious schools) to weaponize and wage their brutal war and mass-scale violence through high-profile suicide bombings, the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs), and engaging in outright terror. 

These whitewashing and propaganda efforts counter the tireless struggles of Afghanistan's civil society and democratic forces to re-establish the rule of law, democracy, and pluralism in the country. We therefore urge British authorities to take necessary action and end the propaganda and misinformation campaign of these British Imams. We also urge an investigation of the two organisations: Human Aid & Advocacy (Registered Charity No. 1138111) and Prosper Afghanistan.

Sincerely, 

Abdullah Khodadad, Former Diplomat and Political Activist

Bahar Mehr, Activist

Aliye Yilmaz, Activist

Anarkali Honaryar, Former Member of Parliament

Angela Ghayour, Founder of Herat Online School

Ariana Delaweri, Activist

Asar Hakimi, Activist

Basir Ahang, Activist

Batool Haidari, Women's Right Activist

Crystal Bayat, Activist

Dr Mirways Bahawi, Activist

Zalmai Nishat, Tony Blair Institute for Global Change

Ehsan Salim, Activist

Ejaz Ahmad Malikzada, Activist

Fahim Ebrat, ActivistFardin Barmaki, Activist

Farhat Esaar, Women's Right Activist

Farima Nawabi, Diplomat

Fatima Roshanian, Journalist

Ferdaws Ariayee, Activist

Haanya Malik, Journalist

Hakim Asher, Activist

Homeira Qaderi, Writer and Human Rights Activist

Hashmat Radfar, Activist and Freedom Fighter

Jamshid Yama Amiri, Activist

Kawa Jobran, Activist

Kumayl Yusuf Nazary, Activist

Laleh Osmany, Women's Right Activist

Mariam Hamidi, Activist

Mesbah Aini, Activist

Mitra Forough, Activist

Munisa Mubariz, Women's Right Activist

Naheed Farid, Former member of Parliament

Natiq Malikzada, Activist

Nigara Mirdad, Diplomat

Nilofar Ayoubi, Activist

Nilofar Moradi, Journalist

Parwani Ibrahimkhail, Women's Right Activist

Roya Sadat, Filmmaker

Sahraa Karimi, Filmmaker and university Lecturer

Shabnam Hazrati, Activist

Shafi Karimi, Journalist

Shaira Karimi, Researcher and Women’s Right Activist 

Shoaib Rahim, Activist

Sodaba Azizi, Activist

Sulaiman Ghalib, Activist

Tooba Lutfi, Women's Right Activist

Yalda Royan, Human Rights Activist

Yalda Sarwar, Journalist

Zahra Karimi, Activist

Zahra Mousawi, Women's Right Activist

Zarlasht Haidary, Activist

Zarqa Yaftali, Human Rights Activist

Zoubair Sangi, Activist