In Afghanistan, barbers who shave men’s beards are facing potential jail time as the Taliban enforces its increasingly strict regulations.

Reports indicate that some young men are being subjected to physical punishment and public embarrassment for opting for haircuts that reflect Western styles, thereby violating stringent cultural norms.

Barbers caught violating these rules will be handed over to the Taliban’s notorious judicial system, where they could receive prison sentences of up to 15 months.

The regime defends these actions as an enforcement of Islamic law.

While beard removal was already prohibited under the regime’s Law on the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, it previously did not result in imprisonment.

Some accused of crafting non-traditional styles have already faced temporary detention, however, meaning their businesses have ground to a halt for days.

Esmatullah, from the Balkh province, told the Telegraph: ‘We are branded as agents of the former government if we trim our beards or keep what they call a Western hairstyle. 

‘The Taliban interrogate and beat people simply for how they look.’

A man walks past a barber shop in Khost, Afghanistan, offering Western styles

A barber at a shop in Khost, Afghanistan, after the Taliban regained power who said his custom had suffered

He said a local college student was beaten up by Taliban members who also lopped off his hair with scissors, because he had decided to shave the sides of this head.

Another barber in Balkh said that many of his customers now ask him to visit them at their homes for haircut or grooming sessions, because it is too risky to do in public.

Many have also seen a steep decline in business since the Taliban reestablished in August 2021.

Last week, Taliban morality enforcers detained eight barbers in Afghanistan’s Parwan province for shaving or styling beards.

Their shops were shuttered, and their have been families told they will be detained for a month.

Taliban officials summoned male barbers in the Balkh province on Friday to the drum home the message that the crackdown is on.

Another Balkh barber told the newspaper: ‘If people are not allowed to shave their beards or cut their hair as per their choice, who will come to our shops?

‘We live hand to mouth, and these edicts will leave us without enough food on our plates.’

Since sweeping back to power in the wake of the Western withdrawal, the Taliban has steadily tightened its grip on the people of Afghanistan and stripped away their freedoms.

Crowds leave after watching the public execution of a murder convict at a stadium in Khost, Afghanistan, December 2, 2025

A photo of Mangal, who was publicly executed by the Taliban at a sports stadium at the start of December

Figures from this year show it has ordered dozens of people to be stoned to death and four convicts to be executed by having walls collapsed onto them.

The numbers, from its own Supreme Court, show the group also publicly flogged more than 1,000 people across Afghanistan in 2025 – including at least 150 women.

The data points to a sharp rise in corporal punishment, with Kabul recording the highest number of cases.

On Tuesday, the group detained at least 25 people in Afghanistan’s northeastern Takhar province for playing music at a private gathering.

And on Monday, its members collected and burned dozens of musical instruments in the eastern province of Nangarhar.

The Taliban governor’s office in Nangarhar province said that enforcers from the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice had seized 86 musical instruments in the ninth district of Jalalabad city and burned them in front of a joint committee. 

It said the action was to prevent ‘immoral practices’ and to enforce Islamic law, adding that similar measures would continue.