Local officials of the Afghan Taliban have banned beard shaving in the southern Afghan province of Helmand, local media reported on Sunday.

The Taliban’s director of information and culture Hafiz Rashid Helmand told the daily Itilatroz that the decision was taken by the Taliban’s religious police during a meeting with barber shop owners in the province.

An official message from the Taliban authorities spread on social media, in which the movement’s officials in the province warn barber shops of the consequences of shaving beards.

An official spokesman for the Taliban regime did not immediately respond to comment.

Taliban militants overthrew the internationally backed Afghan government last month.

Since then, the system has imposed gender segregation in university classes, preventing women from working in public places, and not allowing girls to attend school after the sixth grade.

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