: Kinder, Gentler “Morals Police” Back on Afghan Streets<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The hated "morals police" of the Taliban is back - with 1% of the officers, no jail, and a mandate to use "persuasion" rather than physical intimidation.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/08\/kinder_gentler_morals_police_back_on_afghan_streets\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\": Kinder, Gentler “Morals Police” Back on Afghan Streets\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The hated "morals police" of the Taliban is back - with 1% of the officers, no jail, and a mandate to use "persuasion" rather than physical intimidation.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/08\/kinder_gentler_morals_police_back_on_afghan_streets\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"altmuslim\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2002-08-12T21:49:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Shahed Amanullah\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Shahed Amanullah\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/08\/kinder_gentler_morals_police_back_on_afghan_streets\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/08\/kinder_gentler_morals_police_back_on_afghan_streets\/\",\"name\":\": Kinder, Gentler “Morals Police” Back on Afghan Streets\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2002-08-12T21:49:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2002-08-12T21:49:46+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/0e0efbb645cc461c721083358f82f945\"},\"description\":\"The hated \\\"morals police\\\" of the Taliban is back - with 1% of the officers, no jail, and a mandate to use \\\"persuasion\\\" rather than physical intimidation.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/08\/kinder_gentler_morals_police_back_on_afghan_streets\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/08\/kinder_gentler_morals_police_back_on_afghan_streets\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/08\/kinder_gentler_morals_police_back_on_afghan_streets\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\": Kinder, Gentler “Morals Police” Back on Afghan Streets\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/\",\"name\":\"altmuslim\",\"description\":\"Global perspectives on Muslim life, politics & culture\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/0e0efbb645cc461c721083358f82f945\",\"name\":\"Shahed Amanullah\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6c9ebfb8c37dbc2e9865b291bbaeff08?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6c9ebfb8c37dbc2e9865b291bbaeff08?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Shahed Amanullah\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/author\/shahedamanullah\/\"}]}<\/script>\n","yoast_head_json":{"title":": Kinder, Gentler “Morals Police” Back on Afghan Streets","description":"The hated \"morals police\" of the Taliban is back - with 1% of the officers, no jail, and a mandate to use \"persuasion\" rather than physical intimidation.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/08\/kinder_gentler_morals_police_back_on_afghan_streets\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":": Kinder, Gentler “Morals Police” Back on Afghan Streets","og_description":"The hated \"morals police\" of the Taliban is back - with 1% of the officers, no jail, and a mandate to use \"persuasion\" rather than physical intimidation.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/08\/kinder_gentler_morals_police_back_on_afghan_streets\/","og_site_name":"altmuslim","article_published_time":"2002-08-12T21:49:46+00:00","author":"Shahed Amanullah","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Shahed Amanullah","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/08\/kinder_gentler_morals_police_back_on_afghan_streets\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/08\/kinder_gentler_morals_police_back_on_afghan_streets\/","name":": Kinder, Gentler “Morals Police” Back on Afghan Streets","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website"},"datePublished":"2002-08-12T21:49:46+00:00","dateModified":"2002-08-12T21:49:46+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/0e0efbb645cc461c721083358f82f945"},"description":"The hated \"morals police\" of the Taliban is back - with 1% of the officers, no jail, and a mandate to use \"persuasion\" rather than physical intimidation.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/08\/kinder_gentler_morals_police_back_on_afghan_streets\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/08\/kinder_gentler_morals_police_back_on_afghan_streets\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/08\/kinder_gentler_morals_police_back_on_afghan_streets\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":": Kinder, Gentler “Morals Police” Back on Afghan Streets"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/","name":"altmuslim","description":"Global perspectives on Muslim life, politics & culture","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/0e0efbb645cc461c721083358f82f945","name":"Shahed Amanullah","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6c9ebfb8c37dbc2e9865b291bbaeff08?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6c9ebfb8c37dbc2e9865b291bbaeff08?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Shahed Amanullah"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/author\/shahedamanullah\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1568","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/530"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1568"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1568\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1568"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1568"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1568"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}

{"id":1568,"date":"2002-08-12T16:49:46","date_gmt":"2002-08-12T21:49:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/?p=1568"},"modified":"2002-08-12T16:49:46","modified_gmt":"2002-08-12T21:49:46","slug":"kinder_gentler_morals_police_back_on_afghan_streets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/altmuslim\/2002\/08\/kinder_gentler_morals_police_back_on_afghan_streets\/","title":{"rendered":": Kinder, Gentler “Morals Police” Back on Afghan Streets"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

One of the most hated aspects of the Taliban-era Afghan government was the so-called \u201cDepartment of the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice<\/a>\u201c, which once sent over 30,000 officers on the streets to beat alleged violators of Islamic law who sported beards or burqas that were too short. Although the department was closed after the Taliban were removed, President Hamid Karzai has re-opened the department<\/a>, promising to use persuasion rather than beatings to get the point across. \u201cThe Taliban used to beat women in the streets,\u201d said department head Mohammad Wazir Razi Kabuli. \u201cUnder Islam, you don\u2019t beat people. You invite them to change their ways.\u201d However, when asked what would happen if a woman was caught wearing makeup in public, Kabuli said \u201cIt\u2019s too early to talk about that.\u201d In any case, violators fare better under this system than they did within a block of Seattle\u2019s fringe Dar-us-Salaam mosque in the late 1990s, where similar morals police<\/a> roamed the area beating offenders until stopped by the police.<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n

Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"