The Taliban have ordered schoolteachers in eastern Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province to sign written pledges committing to grow beards, according to documents circulating locally.
The directive warns that teachers who fail to comply with an order issued by the Taliban’s leader will be dismissed from their positions. The pledge applies to staff of the provincial Directorate of Education, as well as teachers and students, and instructs them to follow what it describes as Islamic principles and the conduct of the Prophet.
Under the order, anyone who disobeys the leader’s rulings is to be marked absent from school or work until they comply. Teachers say the process of forcing staff to sign these pledges has already begun at Abdul Wakil Ali High School in Jalalabad, the provincial capital.
Educators report that a special committee has been formed by the Taliban’s education authorities to enforce the rule. They say teachers were told that refusing to grow a beard would result in dismissal and that they would not be allowed to file complaints. The policy follows earlier statements by Taliban morality officials who have declared shaving beards to be sinful and urged men to grow them. Taliban representatives have also described beards as a key marker distinguishing men from women.
Morality enforcers have repeatedly warned barbers not to shave or style beards and hair in modern ways. In Kabul, Nangarhar, Khost, and other provinces, barbers have been detained for providing haircuts or beard styles deemed unacceptable.
Previously, former government employees in Khost province said they were held for a day over the appearance of their beards and later dismissed from their jobs, with authorities saying their looks did not conform to approved traditions.
