The Taliban’s morality police have stepped up enforcing strict social behavior regulations, arresting men and barbers for non-conforming hairstyles and beard cutting, a UN report released Thursday says. The crackdown is part of broader laws adopted last August by the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which regulate public behavior such as music, celebrations, grooming standards, and public transportation.
The report, which was released by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), also notes that over half of all the arrests between January and June since the enactment of the law involved grooming violations. Men sporting “improper” beard length or hairdo and barbers providing such a service have been targeted.
In addition, during the holy month of Ramadan, attendance at mosques was also monitored by authorities, with some men arbitrarily arrested for not attending congregational prayers. Detentions were carried out without legal protection or due process, the UN reported.
Both men and women have been affected by the new rules, particularly small entrepreneurs like barbers, tailors, wedding caterers, and teachers. Some have experienced considerable reductions in income or lost their means of sustenance altogether, adding to Afghanistan’s already catastrophic economic crisis.
A World Bank analysis earlier had estimated that the restrictions on education and work for women alone would cost the Afghan economy over $1.4 billion a year.
Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada has come to the defense of the policies, highlighting Islamic law as key and the role of the Vice and Virtue Ministry in defining Afghan society. In an Eid al-Fitr message, he invoked a society without “misguided beliefs and bad morals.
More than 3,300 male monitors have reportedly been deployed to inform and enforce these laws. The Vice and Virtue Ministry has not commented on the UN’s discoveries at the time of writing.
