The Taliban’s Ministry of Vice and Virtue has been cracking down on civil servants who shave their beard.
In the western Herat province, several government employees have been summoned to the Ministry’s provincial office for interrogation.
The Ministry’s agents have been apprehending those without beard and confining them in containers for hours, or else taking them to local judicial courts.
Employees have also been forced to sign pledges to grow beards, and those who do not comply risk detention between one month and three months.
In the months following their takeover in August 2021, the Taliban issued a decree forbidding barbershops from shaving or trimming beard, saying such actions are “prohibited” in Islam.
Any violations of the decree could result in severe punishment. Since the decree, many barbershops have been forced to quit their businesses, which has impacted livelihoods amid a worsening economic crisis.
Last week, the Taliban’s General Director of the Directorate of Invitation and Guidance, Mohammad Hashim Shaheed Wror, said in a speech that neckties are “symbols of Christianity” and should not be worn by people in Afghanistan.
