Taliban ‘flog young Afghans for wearing jeans’

A group of young Afghans have said they were flogged by Taliban fighters for the crime of wearing jeans.

In a post widely shared on Facebook, an Afghan youth said they were “walking with friends in Kabul,” when they encountered a group of Taliban soldiers who accused them of disrespecting Islam.

Two of the friends escaped, the youth said, but the others were beaten, whipped on their necks and threatened at gunpoint.

The Afghan newspaper Etilaatroz reported over the weekend that one of its journalists had also been beaten for not wearing “Afghan clothes,” such as full-body gowns. 

There have been other reports of Afghan youths being targeted for wearing T-shirts as well as jeans.

A Taliban official told Etilaatroz that the movement was still deciding on the dress code for men. 

Both incidents will increase concerns that little has changed in the Taliban since the late 1990s, when it was commonplace for Afghans caught without religious clothing to be beaten or even killed.

Photo: Taliban fighters are seen on the back of a vehicle in Kabul, Afghanistan. EPA-EFE/STRINGER

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