kept denouncing each other to the authorities, and both spent time in jail for continuously "arguing". The Taliban also confiscated the synagogue's Torah scroll. However, the two men were later released from prison when Taliban officials became annoyed by their arguing. In January 2005, Levy died of natural causes, leaving Simintov as the sole known Jew in Afghanistan. He cared for the only synagogue in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul. He was still trying to recover the confiscated Torah. Simintov, who does not speak Hebrew, claimed that the man who stole the Torah is now in US custody in Guantanamo Bay. Simintov has a wife and two daughters, all of whom emigrated to Israel in 1998, and he said he was considering joining them. However, when he was asked if he would go to Israel during an interview, Simintov retorted, "Go to Israel? What business do I have there? Why should I leave?" In April 2021, Simintov announced that he would emigrate to Israel after the High Holy Days of 2021, due to the fear that the planned withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan would result in the Taliban's return to power. Throughout August 2021, Simintov remained in Kabul, despite having had a chance to escape. Despite initially stating that he would put up with the Taliban for the second time, it has been reported that Simintov emigrated to a presently undisclosed country before the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah on 6 September 2021 after he received death threats from the Taliban or ISIS-KP, taking 30 other refugees with him, including 28 women and children. Ami Magazine, an Orthodox Jewish publication which is based in New York City, reported that Simintov was en route to the United States. Simintov stated that it was not the Taliban but rather the possibility of other, more radical Islamist groups like IS-KP taking him hostage that resulted in his exit from the country. After leaving Afghanistan, Simintov granted his wife a divorce. It was then discovered that an unbeknownst distant cousin of Simintov, Tova Moradi, fled the country sometime in October following Simintov's departure. Contrary to official reports which stated that "no Jewish" person was living in the country, it is believed that Moradi was the last Jew who lived in Afghanistan. Consistency of the Taliban's ideology The Taliban's ideology is not static. Before its capture of Kabul, members of the Taliban talked about stepping aside