Taliban’s Ministry of Higher Education has ordered that university professors who fail to comply with the group’s dress and beard requirements be denied academic promotion, according to a document obtained by Afghanistan International.

The directive states that promotion files for academics whose “appearance and conduct are not in line with Sharia” must be suspended. The decision was approved by the ministry’s leadership council, which instructed university heads not to submit promotion dossiers until they confirmed staff compliance with Taliban standards.

The Taliban have introduced strict codes of dress and behaviour for professors and students since the start of the new academic year. Male staff and students are required to wear traditional Afghan clothing, cover their heads with a cap or turban, and keep their beards untrimmed.

The rules are also enforced in boys’ schools, where students who do not comply are barred from classrooms.

Since taking power in August 2021, the Taliban have imposed sweeping changes on Afghanistan’s higher education system. Women have been banned from universities, curricula have been altered to emphasise religious studies, and hundreds of academics have fled abroad. Universities are now under strict social and religious control.