Afghanistan Times
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KABUL – Afghanistan’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice is once again under fire following a damning new report from the United Nations, revealing intensified morality policing targeting Afghan citizens—particularly men and small business owners—over personal appearance and religious observance.
According to the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), hundreds of people have been arbitrarily detained since the ministry’s controversial laws came into force last August. Over half of the recorded detentions involved men for allegedly having “non-compliant” beard lengths or hairstyles, or barbers accused of offering such trims—especially during the holy month of Ramzan.
The crackdown also extended into mosques, where attendance at daily congregational prayers was tightly surveilled. Men who failed to show up were reportedly detained without due process, further raising concerns about human rights violations.
These enforcement actions come under the broader framework of a sweeping set of rules introduced by the ministry, which govern aspects of daily life from music, celebrations, and transport to personal grooming and public decorum. Most alarmingly, women’s voices and bare faces have been banned in public, contributing to the already grim state of gender rights in the country.
UN officials have slammed the rules, warning they paint a “distressing vision” for Afghanistan’s future—particularly for women and those in the informal economy. The impact has been dire for small business owners like barbers, tailors, educators, and wedding caterers, many of whom have lost their livelihoods.
With the Afghan economy in free fall, the World Bank estimates that restrictions on women’s participation in education and the workforce alone could cost the country over $1.4 billion annually.
Despite international criticism, Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada remains defiant, continuing to assert the supremacy of Islamic law and the role of the morality ministry in shaping Afghan society.
