Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has strongly rejected recent comments made by Taliban Minister for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Khalid Hanafi regarding the state of Islam in Uzbekistan, describing his remarks as “false information.”
A spokesperson for Uzbekistan’s Foreign Ministry said the country’s ambassador in Kabul met Taliban officials following the statements to convey Tashkent’s position.
During a visit to Afghanistan’s Paktia province, Hanafi claimed that in the historic Uzbek cities of Samarkand, Bukhara and Termez—centers of Islamic civilization and the birthplace of renowned scholars such as Imam al-Bukhari and Imam al-Tirmidhi—”only the name of Islam remains.”
He further alleged that the situation resulted from religious scholars in Uzbekistan allowing the state to assume responsibility for implementing Islamic principles.
After the remarks were published, Afghanistan’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice and its official spokesperson shared portions of Hanafi’s speech on their social media platforms. However, several hours later, the section referring to Uzbekistan was removed without explanation.
The Taliban have not officially commented on Uzbekistan’s response or explained why the relevant part of Hanafi’s speech was deleted from official platforms.
The exchange marks a rare public diplomatic disagreement between Uzbekistan and the Taliban, whose relations have generally focused on trade, transport and regional cooperation since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan.
