The Taliban has banned hairdressers in Afghanistan’s Helmand province from shaving or trimming beards. According to the Taliban, this violates sharia law.
“Anyone who breaks the rules will be punished,” the Taliban’s religious police said.
Several barbers in the capital Kabul said they had also received similar orders. The instructions suggest a return to the strict rules of the past when the group was in power, although they now promise a lighter form of government rule.
Since taking power last month, the Taliban have carried out harsh punishments against opponents. On Saturday, the group’s fighters shot dead four suspected kidnappers and hanged their bodies in the streets of the western city of Herat.
In a notice posted at a barbershop in southern Helmand province, Taliban officials warned hairdressers to follow sharia law not to cut hair and beards.
“The fighters kept coming and ordering us to stop shaving the beard. One of them told me they could send undercover inspectors to arrest us,” a barber in Kabul said.
(NFL)
