The Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice said this week it has rounded up more than 1,500 people with mental health conditions across Afghanistan and handed them over to the Red Crescent.

Ministry spokesperson Saif al-Islam Khyber told Taliban-run media on Wednesday that most of those detained were from Herat and Faryab provinces. He said officials in Kabul, Maidan Wardak, Zabul, Badakhshan, Kunduz, Takhar and Helmand provinces were also carrying out similar operations.

In a statement, the ministry said 770 people with psychological disorders were collected from Faryab province alone, while about 200 were gathered in Herat. The ministry said the campaign was launched under orders from Taliban leader Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, who has instructed authorities in all 34 provinces to collect mentally ill people.

The Taliban-controlled Red Crescent has not explained how the individuals will be treated or where they will be housed.

Mental health experts warn that people with psychiatric conditions need specialised care, which Afghanistan’s public health system is unable to provide. The World Health Organization estimates that one in five Afghans suffers from a mental health disorder, a figure that experts say has risen since the Taliban's takeover of Afghanistan due to poverty and unemployment.