KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – The Taliban Ministry of Higher Education has dismissed at least 53 staff members, including 34 in academic positions, at Bamyan University, local sources report. Most of those affected belong to the Hazara ethnic group.
According to the sources, among the dismissed individuals were highly experienced lecturers holding doctoral or master’s degrees.
Sources have described the move as “discriminatory” and a “systematic” ethnic purge, pointing out that positions held by Pashtun lecturers have been retained.
Since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban have transformed Afghanistan’s education system, including replacing staff and revising curricula in an attempt to spread their ideology among younger generations. The group has also established a vast network of religious schools (Madrassas) across the country.
This is not the first time Hazara academics have been targeted. Last year, the Taliban dismissed or forced the resignation of at least 49 Hazara lecturers at Bamyan University — the only university in the Shia-majority province.
The Taliban have also instructed schools and educational institutes in Bamyan and other Shia populated provinces to remove books on Jafari jurisprudence from their curricula. Taliban Minister of Higher Education, Neda Mohammad Nadim, has previously stated that “Afghanistan has no sects” and that everyone in the country follows Hanafi jurisprudence.
Human rights groups continue to express concerns about the growing ideological control the Taliban is exerting over academic institutions in Afghanistan.
