Taliban halt Swedish activities in Afghanistan over ‘heinous’ act of Quran burning

Afghanistan's rulers Taliban on Tuesday said that all activities by Sweden in the nation must halt. The move comes a month after the burning of Quran outside a mosque in Sweden's capital Stockholm last month.

In a statement, Zabiullah Mujahid, a spokesman for the Taliban administration, said that the decision was taken due to the insult of the holy book and Muslim beliefs.

"After the insulting of the holy Quran and granting of permission for insulting of Muslim beliefs ...The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan is ordering the stopping of all activities of Sweden in Afghanistan."

According to the statement, the order will remain effective "until they (Sweden) apologise to the Muslims for this heinous act."

How will the decision impact Sweden?

As per a Reuters report, the order will likely affect the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan, a Swedish non-governmental organisation. The organisation has thousands of aid workers working throughout Afghanistan in different areas like health, education and rural development.

However, at this point this is just conjecture as the Taliban administration is yet to provide details on which organisations will be affected by the halt of Sweden activities in Afghanistan.

The halt's impact on Afghanistan

The nation which has been undergoing turbulence ever since the Taliban took over in 2021 will likely face duress due to the order.

Afghanistan’s aid sector has already been severely affected, hampered by a series of restrictions by the Taliban. These include restrictions on female aid workers, and their working with the United Nations.

Sweden and Afghanistan

Since the Taliban took over Afghanistan almost two years back in 2021, Sweden doesn't have an embassy in the South Asian nation.

The Quran burning incident

Last month, a 37-year-old Iraqi living in Sweden who was identified as Salwan Momika stomped on the Muslim holy book Quran and set several pages alight outside a Stockholm mosque.

The Quran burning coincided with the start of the holy Eid al-Adha holiday and also the end of the annual hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, and triggered widespread anger globally, especially in Muslim dominated nations like Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

As per reports, in line with free speech protections, Momika was granted permission by the Swedish police following a court order. However, later, noting that the man had burnt pages from the Islamic holy book very close to the mosque, Swedish authorities said they had opened an investigation over "agitation against an ethnic group".

(With inputs from agencies)

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