KABUL: Checking imported books, removing texts from libraries and distributing lists of banned titles 鈥� Taliban authorities are working to remove 鈥渦n-Islamic鈥� and anti-government literature from circulation.
The efforts are led by a commission established under the Ministry of Information and Culture soon after the Taliban swept to power in 2021 and implemented their strict interpretation of Islamic law, or sharia.
In October, the ministry announced the commission had identified 400 books 鈥渢hat conflicted with Islamic and Afghan values, most of which have been collected from the markets.鈥�
The department in charge of publishing has distributed copies of the Qur'an and other Islamic texts to replace seized books, the ministry statement said.
The ministry has not provided figures for the number of removed books, but two sources, a publisher in Kabul and a government employee, said texts had been collected in the first year of Taliban rule and again in recent months.
鈥淭here is a lot of censorship. It is very difficult to work, and fear has spread everywhere,鈥� the Kabul publisher told AFP.
Books were also restricted under the previous foreign-backed government ousted by the Taliban, when there was 鈥渁 lot of corruption, pressures and other issues,鈥� he said.
But 鈥渢here was no fear, one could say whatever he or she wanted to say,鈥� he added.
鈥淲hether or not we could make any change, we could raise our voices.鈥�

AFP received a list of five of the banned titles from an information ministry official.
It includes 鈥淛esus the Son of Man鈥� by renowned Lebanese-American author Khalil Gibran, for containing 鈥渂lasphemous expressions,鈥� and the 鈥渃ounterculture鈥� novel 鈥淭wilight of the Eastern Gods鈥� by Albanian author Ismail Kadare.
鈥淎fghanistan and the Region: A West Asian Perspective鈥� by Mirwais Balkhi, an education minister under the former government, was also banned for 鈥渘egative propaganda.鈥�
During the Taliban鈥檚 previous rule from 1996 to 2001, there were comparatively few publishing houses and booksellers in Kabul, the country having already been wracked by decades of war.
Today, thousands of books are imported each week alone from neighboring Iran 鈥� which shares the Persian language with Afghanistan 鈥� through the Islam Qala border crossing in western Herat province.
Taliban authorities rifled through boxes of a shipment at a customs warehouse in Herat city last week.
One man flipped through a thick English-language title, as another, wearing a camouflage uniform with a man鈥檚 image on the shoulder patch, searched for pictures of people and animals in the books.
鈥淲e have not banned books from any specific country or person, but we study the books and we block those that are contradictory to religion, sharia or the government, or if they have photos of living things,鈥� said Mohammad Sediq Khademi, an official with the Herat department for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (PVPV).
鈥淎ny books that are against religion, faith, sect, sharia... we will not allow them,鈥� the 38-year-old told AFP, adding the evaluations of imported books started some three months ago.
Images of living things 鈥� barred under some interpretations of Islam 鈥� are restricted according to a recent 鈥渧ice and virtue鈥� law that codifies rules imposed since the Taliban returned to power, but the regulations have been unevenly enforced.
Importers have been advised of which books to avoid, and when books are deemed unsuitable, they are given the option of returning them and getting their money back, Khademi said.
鈥淏ut if they can鈥檛, we don鈥檛 have any other option but to seize them,鈥� he added.
鈥淥nce, we had 28 cartons of books that were rejected.鈥�

Authorities have not gone from shop to shop checking for banned books, an official with the provincial information department and a Herat bookseller said, asking not to be named.
However, some books have been removed from Herat libraries and Kabul bookstores, a bookseller told AFP, also asking for anonymity, including 鈥淭he History of Jihadi Groups in Afghanistan鈥� by Afghan author Yaqub Mashauf.
Books bearing images of living things can still be found in Herat shops.
In Kabul and Takhar 鈥� a northern province where booksellers said they had received the list of 400 banned books 鈥� disallowed titles remained on some shelves.
Many non-Afghan works were banned, one seller said, 鈥渟o they look at the author, whose name is there, and they are mostly banned鈥� if they鈥檙e foreign.
His bookshop still carried translations of Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky鈥檚 鈥淭he Gambler鈥� and fantasy novel 鈥淒aughter of the Moon Goddess鈥� by Sue Lynn Tan.
But he was keen to sell them 鈥渧ery cheap鈥� now, to clear them from his stock.