YesFour months after taking power in Afghanistan, the Islamic Taliban dissolved the Independent Election Commission (IEC) and the Election Complaints Commission. Taliban government spokesman Bilal Karimi said in Kabul on Saturday that there was no need for these bodies. He has also said that the ministries of peace and parliamentary affairs have been abolished recently.

The Election Commission, established in 2006, had the task of organizing and monitoring the presidential and other elections in Afghanistan. Halim Fidai, a former representative of the Afghan government, condemned the dissolution of the commission. The decision shows that the Taliban “does not believe in democracy”. The former governor accused Islamists of gaining their power “through bullets, not elections”.

The Taliban regained power in Afghanistan in mid-August. So far, no country has officially recognized the Taliban leadership, which promised that their new regime in the country would be more liberal than it was in the 1990s. However, decisions such as the re-establishment of a ministry for the promotion of virtue and the prevention of evil raised doubts about the assurances of Islamists.