Former Afghan President Hamed Karzai has reportedly continued to omit the name of Taliban supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada from Friday prayer sermons at his office mosque in Kabul, despite a Taliban directive requiring imams nationwide to include the leader’s name in weekly sermons, according to informed sources.
As reported by IRAF, according to sources familiar with the matter, the imam at Karzai’s office mosque has never recited Akhundzada’s name during Friday sermons, and the practice has remained unchanged for years under Karzai’s direct instruction.
The reports highlight a departure from a nationwide directive issued by the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue, Hajj and Religious Affairs in November 2022, which introduced a standardized Friday sermon and required all mosque imams to mention Akhundzada by name as a mandatory part of the khutbah.
Sources close to Karzai’s office said the requirement has consistently been ignored at the former president’s mosque, describing the omission as a deliberate decision rather than an oversight.
Karzai has remained in Kabul since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021, although his political activities have been subject to significant restrictions.
Political analysts in Kabul say the continued omission could be interpreted as a symbolic indication of Karzai’s political distance from the Taliban leadership. Others view it as a quiet expression of dissent against some of the group’s religious and social policies.
While the Taliban has sought to enforce uniform religious directives across Afghanistan, the reported refusal to implement one of its most visible symbolic requirements at the office of one of the country’s most prominent political figures underscores the persistence of subtle signs of political divergence within the country.
