Date: 07/08/1404
Taliban Forcibly Summon Students of Sheikh Zayed University in Khost to a Meeting on Beards
8 Subh, Kabul: Local sources report that the Taliban have forcibly summoned students of Sheikh Zayed University in Khost to a meeting regarding beards and political parties.
Sources said on Wednesday, 7 Aqrab, that Taliban fighters closed the university gates and prevented students from leaving the campus.
According to the sources, the meeting was held in the presence of the Taliban governor of Khost and the university president.
The sources state that the Taliban governor instructed the students to grow their beards in the same manner as the group’s fighters.
The Taliban reportedly said that by keeping beards, “the distinction between universities and madrasas will be eliminated.”
This comes as UNAMA, in its recent report, stated that the Taliban detained more than one hundred people in Kandahar for shaving their beards.

This entry documents the forced assembly of university students in Khost and the imposition of directives requiring conformity to Taliban-prescribed beard standards. The restriction of students’ movement and the enforcement of appearance-based requirements reflect the use of coercive measures to regulate personal conduct and expression within educational institutions, indicating the extension of ideological control into the higher education sector.