The Taliban have recently changed the sign reading \u201cGeneral Directorate of Traffic\u201d to \u201cGeneral Traffic Police.\u201d<\/p>\n
The change by the Taliban\u2019s General Directorate of Traffic has also drawn criticism.<\/p>\n
Samie Hamid, a well-known Afghan writer and poet, reacted to the decision by saying: \u201cIf we criticize, the Taliban will say, \u2018Don\u2019t let \u2018traffic police\u2019 become our language.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that \u201ctraffic police\u201d was also a foreign term, while \u201ctraffic police\u201d in the new terminology was foreign as well, asking: \u201cHow should we criticize? Shouldn\u2019t we look for a local term?\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Wahid Omar, the former head of the Strategic Communications Office of the Afghan Presidential Palace, wrote sarcastically: \u201cIn Kabul, there was a saying that should now be phrased like this: \u2018If you were so clever, why didn\u2019t you become general traffic police?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
The change comes after the Taliban replaced the term \u201cpolice\u201d with \u201cshurta\u201d in newly approved laws. The Taliban Interior Ministry now officially refers to the institution as the \u201cGeneral Directorate of Traffic Police.\u201d<\/p>\n
Previously, the Taliban\u2019s translation of signs across cities into Persian, Pashto and English had also drawn reactions from some citizens, including writers and cultural figures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Taliban have recently changed the sign reading \u201cGeneral Directorate of Traffic\u201d to \u201cGeneral Traffic Police.\u201d The change by the Taliban\u2019s General Directorate of Traffic..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-afghanistan"],"yoast_head":"\n