Higher education in Afghanistan faces an escalating crisis as de facto Taliban authorities intensify ideological and moral oversight across university campuses. According to student accounts from various institutions, unannounced classroom intrusions by the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice have severely disrupted academic routines, with moral police inspecting student and faculty dress codes, hairstyles, beards, and general appearance.
Students report that aggressive enforcement tactics—including verbal harassment, classroom interruptions, and the confiscation of mobile phones and student ID cards—have created an atmosphere of constant intimidation, driving some scholars to abandon their studies entirely. Furthermore, surveillance has expanded beyond lecture halls into campus dormitories, stripping students of personal privacy and peace.
The crackdown on personal appearance is mirrored by a radical restructuring of academic curricula. Institutions have witnessed a sharp increase in mandatory Islamic culture credits centered heavily on the regime’s strict interpretation of Hanafi jurisprudence and the Promotion of Virtue law. Concurrently, pervasive self-censorship among professors and severe restrictions on research and teaching freedom have systematically dismantled opportunities for critical thinking and specialized scientific education.
This ideological overhaul coincides with sweeping censorship campaigns targeting higher education literature. Previous directives forced the removal of 96 foundational book and booklet titles from Kabul University faculties—predominantly spanning humanities, social sciences, law, political science, media, arts, and foreign academic research—while another 194 titles were placed under restrictive conditional review.
Academic and international observers warn that the systematic erosion of professional education, paired with ideological policing, threatens to isolate Afghanistan’s next generation from global academic standards, inflicting long-term damage on the country’s intellectual and institutional future.