They were clueless about what to do in the post-Soviet War era. When the non-state actors and global agencies had milked them enough, they had no choice, but to become a pack of famous hunters, who’d now resort to preying upon anything that would come their way. However this time, the Savannah was swapped with Afghanistan’s vast tracts, and the hunt was ON. Having the whip withdrawn from the Taliban, they learnt the art of diplomatic and cold warfare, and that’s how they lingered on for decades. With no formal education, technology awareness, or research excellence up their sleeves, they opted to outsource technocrats and this is exactly what they did last year. All they had to do was process a “Talent Acquisition Program,” where they managed to pull in a like-minded fleet of “Islamic Technologists.” The rest is history. The self-proclaimed Islamic state grew exponentially and became an utter liability on the shoulders of the United States of America, which cleverly got itself retreated from the land of “Halals” and “Harams,” and stop fostering the kids they once offered space and food! Taliban’s earning resources have remained unknown during this intervention, and honestly speaking, the one we are aware of is “Haram” according to the book-Opium cultivation in Afghanistan. Time for a reality check: “Afghanistan supplies 80% of global opiate and heroin demand.” The minister of higher education met with dashed hopes as he learnt that the Grand Imam of al-Azhar University termed his government’s decision as poor. According to UNODC Research Brief, November 2022 titled “OPIUM CULTIVATION IN AFGHANISTAN: Latest findings and emerging threats,” “Opium cultivation in Afghanistan has increased by 32% over the previous year to 233,000 hectares – making the 2022 crop the third largest area under opium cultivation since monitoring began. The income made by farmers from opium sales tripled from USD 425 million in 2021 to USD 1.4 billion in 2022 – the equivalent of 29% of the 2021 agricultural sector value.” Quran clearly says: “all intoxicants create drunkenness, therefore all intoxicants are forbidden.” Yet despite claiming their reign as an Islamic empire, a slight “alteration” with the meaning of Quranic verses wouldn’t bother them as long as their bills are being paid; and perhaps they’d have somebody onboard who would sanction a Fatwa in favour, considering the formers are battling with hunger, poverty and unprecedented economic downfall. On another hand, despite the clear mention of education for men and women as mandatory in the Quran, the jobless Taliban thought they should play a bit with the associative array of Islam, and rather dismiss the orders, and guess what they came up with around a week ago? They’ve decided to bar girls from all sorts of education in Afghanistan. The news is that the Taliban-run government in Afghanistan has banned women from attending universities in part because female students did not adhere to its interpretation of the Islamic dress code and interacted with pupils of different genders. The female university students were denied admission to campuses and were told that their access would be restricted “until further notice.” Though they had been squeezed out of public and professional life since the Taliban takeover in 2021, the ideology-monger thought their ground-breaking decisions should be made rounds across the global media, and this is what they have come up with. Their decision garnered a hefty backlash from intellectual Islamic diasporas, and they weren’t expecting this. The minister of higher education of the so-called Islamic empire met with dashed hopes as he learnt that Dr Ahmed Mohamed Ahmed El-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of al-Azhar University, termed his government’s decision of banning university education for women against Islamic principles as poor and implored the authorities to revise it. He stated that the “decision has shaken the conscience of Muslims and Non-Muslims, and no Muslim leader should order such a shameful decree.” This is not the first time the Taliban Government has indulged them into colluding with their back-stair agendas publically; essentially, they’ve gored the hearts of these girls many times in the recent past. This imposition not only stamps their fixation with women empowerment, education and grooming but sheds light on their deceitful pretences, intellect, nuances value, hypocrisy and approach as well, and they have certainly impressed none of us with their cherry-picking of few quotes from their book—they worked out on their backyard— imposing the unsolicited regulations, and snubbing what is originally ordered in the holly book they apparently follow. The writer is a research-based analyst and communication specialist from Islamabad. He can be reached at mbilal.isbpk@gmail.com.