Several students living in Takhar University’s dormitory say nightly propaganda sessions run by the Taliban’s Morality Police have left them exhausted, adding that many students have grown discouraged from continuing their studies. They say the Taliban hold lengthy sessions every night, robbing them of sleep and peace of mind and taking a toll on their daily coursework. Rather than studying or preparing for the next day’s classes, students are forced to sit through Taliban propaganda late into the night. They stress that these sessions should not come at the expense of their sleep or education, adding that the Taliban have told them to stop thinking about Western subjects and simply follow whatever the group’s regime dictates.
The students say they have grown increasingly anxious as the sessions continue, with the Morality Police, in their words, stealing their sleep and peace of mind. Not a single night passes, they say, without students being forced to the mosque to hear the same repetitive, clichéd speeches. They add that the Taliban require students to obey the group’s regime: grow beards, wear caps and, in the Taliban’s own words, bring their appearance in line with the “Sunnah,” while ignoring Western subjects altogether.
Students at the dormitory say a man named Mawlawi Mufakkir, who heads the Morality Police unit there, should be removed, accusing him of persistently harassing students.
“By God, from ten at night until midnight, they wore us out completely and didn’t ask us anything else,” one student said. “They tell us not to worry so much about our lessons and studies, and instead fix our appearance according to the Sunnah. They tell us to get the mindset of the republic era out of our heads and simply listen to whatever the Emirate says. We’re told not to study Western subjects.”
The student said the Taliban also ban smartphones from these sessions, fearing that audio or video could be recorded. If a student is caught bringing a smartphone, he said, the phone is confiscated, and the student is punished.
Another student at the dormitory voiced deep concern over the Taliban’s insulting and humiliating treatment of students, saying the group has turned the university into the kind of madrassa where they themselves studied, with no regard for academic life. He said the Taliban seem to treat the dormitory as though it were a military base.
“Ten o’clock at night is when students should be resting,” the student said. “In the morning we have classes, and some of us have homework or need to prepare and review earlier lessons. But we’re forced, whether we want to or not, to go to the mosque at night to be preached at.”
According to this student, the Taliban have not only turned university dormitories into a nightmare for students but have also, through their restrictions and disrespectful treatment, crushed students’ motivation and interest in learning. He said few students now study with their former enthusiasm, and most continue only out of obligation, to please their parents and earn a degree, even though a university is meant to be a place for learning and research.
These students had previously raised serious concerns about poor food quality, intense pressure from the Taliban, unsanitary dormitory conditions, and various restrictions, saying the situation had discouraged many of them from continuing their education.
More than 1,200 students reportedly live in the Takhar University dormitory.
The Taliban had earlier forced students to sign a mandatory 14-article pledge, warning that violating its terms could lead to expulsion, arrest, or imprisonment.
The pledge requires non-Sunni students to change their sect, imposes strict behavioral and dress restrictions, bans outings and music, and demands full compliance with Taliban rules, effectively erasing students’ academic and personal freedoms.
Its sixth article disregards Afghanistan’s religious diversity altogether, requiring all students to follow the Sunni sect without question. Non-Sunni students say the pledge has forced them to abandon their own religious sect.
The Taliban’s Ministry of Higher Education had previously eliminated three fields of study from private universities, suspending the faculties of law, political science, and international relations.
You can read the Persian version of this report here:
خوابگاه دانشگاه تخار؛ دانشجویان از تبلیغات شبانه و فشار طالبان به ستوه آمدهاند
