Taliban cracks down on short beards

KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — Barbers in Afghanistan risk detention for trimming men’s beards too short, they told Agence France-Presse (AFP), as the Taliban authorities enforce their strict interpretation of Islamic law with increasing zeal.

Last month, the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice said it was now “obligatory” to grow beards longer than a fist, doubling down on an earlier order.

Minister Khalid Hanafi said it was the government’s “responsibility to guide the nation to have an appearance according to sharia,” or Islamic law.

Officials tasked with promoting virtue “are obliged to implement the Islamic system,” he said.

With ministry officials patrolling city streets to ensure the rule is followed, the men interviewed by AFP all spoke on condition of anonymity due to security concerns.

In the capital Kabul, a 25-year-old barber lamented that “there are a lot of restrictions” which go against his young clients’ preference for closer shaves.

“Barbers are private businesses, beards and heads are something personal, they should be able to cut the way they want,” he said.

Hanafi has dismissed such arguments, saying last month that telling men “to grow a beard according to sharia” cannot be considered “invading the personal space.”

As fewer and fewer men opt for a close shave, the 25-year-old Kabul barber said he was already losing business.

Many civil servants, for example, “used to sort their hair a couple of times a week, but now, most of them have grown beards, they don’t show up even in a month,” he said.

A 50-year-old barber in Kabul said morality patrols “visit and check every day.”

In one incident this month, the barber said that an officer came into the shop and asked: “Why did you cut the hair like this?”

“After trying to explain that he is a child, he told us: ‘No, do Islamic hair, not English hair.’”

In the southeastern province of Ghazni, a 30-year-old barber said he was detained for three nights after officials found out that one of his employees had given a client a Western-style haircut.

“First, I was held in a cold hall. Later, after I insisted on being released, they transferred me to a cold (shipping) container,” he said.

He was eventually released without charge and continues to work, but usually hides with his clients when the patrols pass by.