By Dr. Emanuel Adil Ghouri
Open Doors, an international organization that provides protection to vulnerable Christians around the world, released its World Watch List in 2025, identifying ten countries in which the lives of Christians are at serious risk. Afghanistan is included in this list.
It is almost impossible to practice Christianity openly in this country. Those who accept Jesus reportedly “face threats of violence, forced conversion, and imprisonment.” Abandoning the traditional religion of one’s family or tribe is seen as a serious act of disloyalty, which can lead to social ostracism, “honor killings” by family members, and mental and physical violence by close relatives.
Following Christ can be punishable by death. According to the law, converting from Islam to another religion is considered apostasy—punishable by beheading for men and life imprisonment for women. Propagating another religion is also a crime. Evangelizing others with the intent to convert is a serious offense, and violators can face the death penalty.
In August 2010, two Afghans and two aid workers were arrested in the western province of Herat on charges of proselytizing. The two NGO workers were deported, while the Afghans were imprisoned for an extended period. After lengthy negotiations, the government released them in Kabul. In November 2010, another man, Shoaib Asadullah Mousavi, was jailed in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif after being accused of giving a New Testament to a friend, who then reported him. Shoaib Asadullah was released from prison on March 30, 2011. He obtained a passport and left Afghanistan on April 14, 2011.
Afghanistan faces many difficulties and dangers in the spread of Christianity due to strict Islamic laws and religious extremism, leaving foreign missionaries with little access. One high-profile case involved the kidnapping of twenty-three South Korean missionaries in 2007, two of whom were killed. The Taliban had detained the aid workers on charges of converting several Afghans to Christianity.
On August 5, 2010, a team of international medical missionaries—six Americans, two Afghans, one British citizen, and one German—was granted permission to work in the Nuristan region of Afghanistan. Shortly after beginning their welfare services, they were killed in an attack by Hezb-e-Islami and the Taliban. The doctors were accused of preaching Christianity and spying. Both groups claimed responsibility for the attack.
A long-standing tradition regarding the evangelization of Afghanistan holds that the Apostle Thomas preached in Bactria (northern Afghanistan). Muslim conquests in the seventh through ninth centuries ended this early Christian presence. Little remained until the fourteenth century, when Nestorian Christians were recorded in Bactria (Balkh) by the end of the second century. In later periods (seventeenth through twentieth centuries), Armenian Christian merchants settled in Kabul and established a community, but they were expelled in 1771. After independence in 1919, limited modernization allowed for small-scale Christian activity, but major changes occurred during and after the Soviet invasion (1979–1989).
The current Afghan church was reestablished in the 1970s with only a handful of Afghan Christians. By the time of the first Taliban occupation in 1995–1996, the number of Christians had likely reached 3,000. Unconfirmed estimates place the current Christian population at 15,000 to 20,000. Christian NGOs were expelled by the Taliban in 2001 and subsequently left the country. The Taliban government does not officially recognize Afghan Christians and actively suppresses all non-Islamic religious expression. Missionary Christian aid workers face severe violence and persecution from both state authorities (the Taliban) and non-state militant groups, including abuse, imprisonment, and death threats. Under the current Taliban regime, Afghanistan is considered one of the most dangerous places in the world for Christians.
The situation has worsened since the Taliban takeover, and evangelization efforts have largely stagnated. Existing Christians practice their faith in underground churches.
Although the Taliban’s hardline stance makes spreading the gospel extremely difficult, it is not impossible. The method of preaching, however, must adapt. Currently, millions of Afghan refugees are living in various cities across Pakistan. Their distribution is as follows:
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: 662,017
Balochistan: 220,721
Punjab: 110,350
Sindh: 40,647
Islamabad: 25,104
Other cities: 2,608
If the message of Jesus is brought to these millions of Afghans, the word of God will reach the length and breadth of Afghanistan. It is important that the gospel missionary alliances from Europe and America—organizations that send millions of dollars to Pakistani ministries—encourage these ministries to direct their efforts toward Afghan refugees rather than focusing on existing Christians. For the command is: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”
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