The Taliban has sacked hundreds of men from Afghanistan’s security forces because they are unable to grow beards.
Thousands of musical instruments have also been destroyed by the militant group in the past year, the notorious ministry for the propagation of virtue and prevention of vice said in its annual update.
Mohibullah Mokhlis, the director of planning and legislation at the ministry, told a press conference in Kabul that “281 beardless officers were identified, confirmed and dismissed” from the country’s security services in the past 12 months.
“The hairstyles of 450 military mujahideen were corrected to comply with Sharia law,” he added. “And some who repeated the [hairstyle] violation were sent to military courts.”
The Taliban has prohibited barbers in several provinces from shaving or trimming beards, claiming that the edict aligns with Sharia law.
It is mandatory for Muslim men to have a beard that is at least the “length of a fist”, according to Islamic law, which is strictly upheld by the Taliban.
Trimming one’s beard shorter than fist length or shaving it entirely is considered haram in Afghanistan, where the beard is considered “a distinctive feature” given to men to “set them apart from women” by the “divine wisdom of God”.
Former Taliban security forces told The Telegraph that they had been dismissed for shaving their faces or not being able to grow a sufficient beard.
“I cannot grow a beard, and they constantly called and harassed me,” one officer who was recently sacked said. “Around three months ago, the commander told me that I could no longer stay in the unit because of my beard.”
“I joined them for financial reasons, but throughout my year with them, I faced lots of harassment over my inability to grow a beard. They would say I wasn’t a true Muslim,” he said.
“About 10 other people were also told that day not to return,” he added. “Some of them were middle-aged men with lots of experience, but they were dismissed simply because they did not have beards, I mean they cannot have one.”
Separately, the Taliban’s regime disclosed that 21,328 musical instruments had been destroyed in the past year.
Jalil Ahmad, a former guitar teacher in the western city of Herat, recounted how morality forces had stormed his home earlier this year and beaten him for owning several musical instruments.
“They knocked on the door, and I saw them through the window. I told my family not to open it, but one of them climbed over the gate and jumped into the yard. He unlocked the door and five more officers stormed into the house,” he said.
The police ransacked his house and discovered five guitars and several other instruments.
The 31-year-old was then taken to a police station, where he said he had been severely beaten.
‘The devil’s instruments’
“They were saying, ‘The foreigners are gone and you cannot live with the devil’s instruments any more,’” he said.
“They flogged me and repeatedly punched me in the face,” he explained. “They accused me of holding classes, but I had stopped teaching a year ago.”
Officials said on Tuesday that more than 13,000 Afghans had been detained for “immoral acts” over the past year, with half of those having been released after 24 hours.
The ministry did not break down the types of the alleged offences or gender of the detainees.
Restrictions on women
The morality ministry, which took over the disbanded women’s ministry premises in Kabul after the Taliban came to rule in 2021, has been criticised by human rights organisations and the United Nations for restrictions on women and inhibiting freedom of expression.
It has banned females from working with aid agencies, closed beauty salons, prohibited women from entering parks and restricted travel without a male guardian. Girls over the age of 12 have been excluded from education since the Taliban’s return to power.
For many Western governments, the education ban remains a major obstacle to formal recognition of the Taliban administration.
The ministry said that a new plan was being worked on to ensure its Islamic dress rules would be followed, overseen by Hibatullah Akhundzada, the supreme leader.
“Based on the guidance of the supreme leader, the draft plan for observing women’s hijab [Islamic dress] has been formulated and approved,” Mokhlis said.
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