EDITORIAL — It starts with intolerance

As per foreign reports, four Afghan men were ordered to report to the Taliban government's Department of Vice and Virtue for dressing in costumes inspired by the British TV series “Peaky Blinders”.

In videos posted online, the four men from the town of Jibrail in Herat province were seen posing in flat caps and three-piece suits similar to those worn in the series.

The four were told that their clothing was "in conflict with Afghan and Islamic values" and ordered to report to the mentioned department, also known as the Taliban’s "morality police". They have reportedly since been released.

"They were promoting foreign culture and imitating film actors in Herat… We have our own religious and cultural values, and especially for clothing we have specific traditional styles… The clothing they wore has no Afghan identity at all and does not match our culture," said Saiful Islam Khyber, a spokesman for the department.

This has the makings of a funny offbeat story. But when you look closer at it it stinks of something else; how intolerance can be taken to an extreme.

Not all foreign influences are bad. In fact, many of us enjoy foreign food, watch foreign TV shows and movies, sing along to foreign music, and wear foreign clothes without necessarily erasing our native identity or beliefs.

But then again, the Taliban has always been afraid of people thinking differently, people trying out something new. It is always looking to control what they do, how they look and act.

Their behavior isn’t surprising; the Taliban are known for being intolerant against other religions and cultures. Remember how they destroyed the Great Bamiyan Buddhas? It’s even intolerant against its own women, refusing to give them the liberties and education they deserve.

So why should we care about what happens somewhere far off in another part of the world? Because such attitudes as intolerance beget behavior like extremism. In turn, extremism begets terrorism. We predict it won’t be long before the Taliban again plays sponsor to a terrorist group.

Remember what happened the last time they did that.