KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Taliban’s Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice announced the arrest of eight people, including a woman, in Baraki Barak district, Logar province, on allegations of “illicit relationships” and “moral corruption.”
In a statement posted today, November 11, the ministry reported that these arrests took place in the village of Qala-e Shah Ghasi. However, no further details about the fate of those detained have been disclosed.
This incident follows an escalation in morality policing by the Taliban, who have intensified enforcement of a new morality law ratified by their supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, in August.
Since their takeover, the Taliban have imposed increasingly harsh restrictions on personal freedoms, particularly targeting women and girls. Early in their rule, they banned barbershops from shaving or trimming beards, labeling such practices “forbidden” under Islamic law. Violators risk severe punishment, and many barbershops have been forced to close, exacerbating the economic crisis.
Rights groups warn that the newly enforced regulations deepen the Taliban’s already oppressive grip on society. The law prohibits men from shaving or trimming their beards shorter than a fist’s length, bans hairstyles deemed “un-Islamic,” and outlaws the wearing of ties and shorts.
The law places even stricter controls on women, requiring them to fully cover their bodies in public and forbidding them from speaking or singing aloud in public. Women are also barred from making direct eye contact with unrelated men and from using taxis unless accompanied by a male relative.
UN experts caution that these measures mirror the Taliban’s repressive policies of the 1990s, underscoring the regime’s unchanged stance. They warn that without a concerted strategy to counter such practices, engaging with the Taliban risks legitimizing their actions and encouraging further abuses.
