The Taliban’s Morality Police in Kandahar have grown noticeably stricter with men who trim or shave their beards, according to residents and young people in the city. In addition to monitoring people’s appearance, officers in some cases also search their personal phones. Dozens of people are stopped daily in Kandahar over their beards, residents say; some are released after a few hours, while others are taken to the Morality Police.
Residents say that once a man is stopped over his beard, officers sometimes go on to search his phone. If they find photos, music, or other content they consider objectionable, the detention drags on longer.
One Kandahar resident, detained some time ago by the Morality Police, said he was first stopped because of his beard, then had his phone searched. “The Taliban stopped me first because of my beard, then took my phone,” he said. “They found photos of me with my friends, and because of those photos they held me at the Morality Police for a day.”
Young people in Kandahar say a person’s phone is an important part of their privacy, yet the Morality Police of the Taliban in the city, beyond checking appearance, are also gaining access to people’s personal information.
Another resident, who asked not to be named for security reasons, said the crackdown on men who trim their beards has grown harsher than before. “If someone has shaved or trimmed his beard very short, they stop him first, then go through his phone,” he said. “If there are photos or music on it, his situation gets worse, and they take him to the PMorality Police,” He added. In some cases, men are stopped over their beards even while accompanied by female relatives, and are spoken to harshly in front of their families.
A young man from Kandahar said the Taliban’s ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice is not supposed to authorize phone searches. “We’ve heard the ministry hasn’t allowed its staff to check people’s phones, but here the morality police do it anyway,” he said. “Anyone stopped over his beard gets his phone checked too.” He said this has left young people worried not only about how they look, but about officers reviewing their photos, videos, and other personal information.
Some residents say men are not only stopped over their beards but are sometimes insulted with degrading language as well. One resident recounted being told: “You’re a hypocrite who shaved his beard and made yourself like the infidels,” followed by a warning that shaving again would mean a week in prison.
The crackdown is not limited to men who have shaved or trimmed their own beards, residents say. Even bearded men have been reprimanded simply for sitting with friends who had trimmed theirs. “I have a full beard myself,” one resident said, “but I was sitting with a friend who had trimmed his. A Taliban Morality Police came over and told me not to sit with ‘such immoral, hypocritical people’ who had cut or shaved their beards.”
Young people in Kandahar say being stopped over a beard is one thing, but having a phone searched, photos and music inspected, questions asked about friends, and being called a “hypocrite,” “immoral,” or “ignorant” is a separate and more serious matter. They say such treatment by some Morality Police, carried out under the guise of correction and guidance, deepens an atmosphere of fear and pressure and amounts to a violation of people’s dignity, leaving many anxious every time they leave home that they might be insulted on some pretext. This, they say, has made daily life significantly harder.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
از بازرسی ریش تا تفتیش تلفنهای شخصی؛ جوانان قندهاری چه میگویند؟
