The Taliban’s Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and Propagation of Virtue fired the beardless men – who are among 13,000 people who have been detained for immoral acts in the past year.

The morality ministry has also destroyed more than 21,000 musical instruments in the past year, according to Mohibullah Mokhlis, director of planning and legislation at the ministry. Music is forbidden in Islam – though the rule is widely flouted.

When the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in 2021, the morality ministry took over the offices of the disbanded women’s ministry in Kabul.