Fears of Afghan genocide and violence against believers in nearby ‘-stans’

Taliban murders of Christians in Afghanistan may spark wider violence against believers in neighbouring nations, it is feared.

The ignominious retreat from Afghanistan by the Western military powers has prompted much soul-searching among Christians across the entire region, as the Taliban now reigns supreme.

Many remember what took place when they were in power from 1996–2001. Then, suspected Christians were forced to renounce their faith and return to Islam. Those who refused were either summarily executed or, sometimes, forced to act as human minesweepers by walking through minefields to clear them. Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo now believes there is ‘likely to become a genocide against Christians’ by the Taliban if no decisive action is taken by the US Government.

Unsurprisingly, many Christians tried to escape via the airlift evacuation from Kabul airport but few could have done so. One 16-year-old girl messaged Release International in total desperation: ‘People are terrified, everyone is afraid and scared of the Taliban … I’m crying out to God right now; someone please help us.’ Her situation is no doubt typical today, but many forget that life was very hard for Christians even under the previous Western-backed government.

Then, Open Doors ranked Afghanistan as the second-worst persecuting country for believers, behind only North Korea. Under former president Ashraf Ghani, Christians faced ‘clan pressure’, with persecution most likely to come from friends and family. Converts to Christianity risked being killed, or at least disowned, by their families. Sometimes conversion was treated as a psychiatric condition. There were even cases of former Muslims being sectioned. Most churches went underground. Nevertheless the church has grown, so that today it numbers somewhere between 3,000 and 20,000 people.

But the situation will only worsen in future. Brother Firas (not his real name) says: ‘The Taliban will kill known Christians and want to spread fear among them. There are already posters appearing that if you have single girls, 15 years old, you have to marry them to Taliban soldiers. Christians fear their daughters will be taken away and forced to marry Taliban’.

It is not only Christians in Afghanistan who face the future with extreme trepidation. Release International’s CEO, Paul Robinson, warns that attacks on Christians are likely to rise across the region as the resurgence of the Taliban ‘fans the flames of Islamist extremism’ elsewhere.

Pakistan, home to 2.6m Christians, is an obvious concern. The Afghan Taliban inspired the creation of the Tehrek-i-Taliban-i-Pakistan, the violent group that campaigned for the death of Asia Bibi. There is now a serious risk of the Afghan organisation inspiring a similar attempt to seize power in Pakistan, too. Two provinces in the north west of the country, with nearly 50,000 Christians, are considered particularly vulnerable.

At risk too are the central Asian States, including Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Islamist movements exist in each one; their governments have sought to impose increasingly repressive ‘anti-extremism laws’ targeting all non-Muslim religions, including Christians. The Taliban’s return to power will almost inevitably embolden them, resulting in Christians being targeted both by increasingly aggressive Islamist groups and by harshly repressive states.

But there are some rays of hope, says Robinson. ‘Radio can be picked up everywhere – including in Pakistan, where many Afghan Christians are seeking refuge. The same is true of social media.’ Huge recent investment in the internet will further aid the spread of Christian teaching, and the great strides in educating Afghan women also points to hope for the future.

‘In places like Afghanistan the church has had to learn to operate much as the early church had to in Acts – under continual threat of persecution. But today it is better resourced and equipped to handle that challenge than ever before.’