Sheikh Hibatullah Akhundzada, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, has issued a new decree directing the replacement of foreign (ajnabi) terms in official administrative and legal documents with suitable Islamic and Afghan equivalents.
Kabul 24: The decree instructs the Ministries of Education, Higher Education, Information and Culture, the Academy of Sciences, and the Office of Administrative Affairs to form a joint committee led by the Ministry of Justice.
This committee will be responsible for evaluating and changing foreign terminology used in government documents.According to the decree, the committee will be chaired by the Ministry of Justice, with members from the mentioned ministries and institutions.
The four-article decree states in its second article that all government departments are required to collect foreign terms currently used in their offices and official documents, propose appropriate replacements along with justifications, and submit the compiled list in table form to the evaluation committee.
The third article obliges the committee to review the submitted foreign terms, select documented and suitable Afghan or Islamic alternatives while considering Islamic and national values, and present its final recommendations to the Leadership of the Islamic Emirate.
The committee may invite representatives from relevant departments when necessary to obtain further information.
The fourth article emphasizes that the decree comes into force immediately upon issuance and must be published in the Official Gazette.
The main objective of this initiative is to purify the administrative language from foreign vocabulary and strengthen Islamic and national identity in state documents.
Officials believe that foreign terms should be replaced with native and Sharia-compliant equivalents to ensure that the official language aligns more closely with the values of the Islamic Emirate.Earlier, the Ministry of Justice reported that during the solar year 1404 (2025–2026), seven laws and three procedural guidelines were approved, signed by the Supreme Leader, printed in the Official Gazette, and made available to the public.
This latest decree reflects the Islamic Emirate’s ongoing policy in the cultural and administrative spheres to promote the use of language and terminology consistent with religious and national principles.
It is expected that its implementation will lead to widespread changes in official documents, laws, regulations, and government correspondence.
The evaluation committee has been tasked with carrying out the review process promptly so that the proposed replacements can be finalized and communicated as soon as possible.
The move is seen as a significant step toward standardizing and localizing administrative language across all levels of government.
