Failure to grow beard costs 280 Afghan cops their jobs

The Taliban's morality ministry dismissed more than 280 members of the security force for failure to grow a beard and detained more than 13,000 people in Afghanistan for "immoral acts" in the past year, officials said on Tuesday.

The Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and Propagation of Virtue said in its annual operations update that around half of those detained had been let go after 24 hours.

Mohibullah Mokhlis, Director of Planning and Legislation at the ministry, told a press conference, officials had destroyed 21,328 musical instruments in the past year and prevented thousands of computer operators from selling "immoral and unethical" films in markets.