The Taliban have forced schoolteachers in eastern Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province to sign written pledges committing to grow beards, according to a document obtained by Afghanistan International.
The document warns that teachers who fail to comply with an order issued by the Taliban’s leader to grow beards will be dismissed from their jobs.
The pledge, obtained on Saturday, instructs staff of the provincial Directorate of Education, as well as teachers and students, to follow “Islamic principles and the Prophet’s conduct” in line with a decree by Hibatullah Akhundzada.
It states that any teacher or student who disobeys Akhundzada’s orders and rulings will be marked absent until they comply with the directive.
Several teachers told Afghanistan International that the forced signing of the pledges has begun at Abdul Wakil Ali High School in Jalalabad, the provincial capital.
According to the teachers, the Taliban’s Ministry of Education has formed a special committee to enforce the order. They said teachers were warned that failure to adhere to the “tradition” of growing beards would lead to dismissal and that they would have no right to lodge complaints.
Previously, the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice declared shaving beards a sin and urged men not to shave. Its spokesperson, Saif-ul-Islam Khyber, has described growing a beard as one of the main distinctions between men and women.
Taliban morality enforcers have also warned barbers against shaving or styling beards and hair in modern fashions. In Kabul, Nangarhar, Khost and several other provinces, barbers have repeatedly been detained for shaving or styling men’s beards and hair in ways deemed unacceptable by the authorities.
Earlier, former government employees in Khost province told Afghanistan International that morality enforcers detained them for 24 hours over the style of their beards and later dismissed them from their jobs, saying their appearance was “not in accordance with tradition.”
