Taliban have dismissed three senior professors from Kabul University’s Faculty of Sharia without providing any explanation, local sources said on Monday.
The professors removed were identified as Abdul Mateen Shahidi, Mohammad Osami and Ehsanullah Mubarez, all long-serving faculty members, the sources said.
The dismissals come amid what academics describe as a broader Taliban campaign of cuts and political control across Afghanistan’s education sector. Teachers and professors have reported steep salary reductions, with some earning less than 5,000 afghanis (about $70) a month.
Earlier, Amu obtained a Taliban Ministry of Education plan, approved by their leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, that aimed to eliminate nearly 90,000 teaching positions under what the Taliban called “organizational restructuring.”
The move has not been limited to schools. In July, at least 23 faculty and staff at Kabul Polytechnic University — including 10 professors and 13 administrators — were dismissed without explanation, according to sources familiar with the matter.
A similar wave of dismissals took place in May, when dozens of male and female employees at Kabul Polytechnic were removed. Sources said the action was part of a broader order to cut 20 percent of public-sector jobs, including in the education system and within the Taliban’s own security forces.
The cuts have spread beyond Kabul. In mid-May, more than 200 employees were dismissed from public universities in Khost and Paktia provinces. At Sheikh Zayed University in Khost alone, 120 staff members were removed in a single day, many of them with advanced degrees and prior service under the former Afghan government, according to academic sources.
Some citizens view the dismissals as part of a Taliban strategy to reshape higher education along ideological lines, consolidating control of universities by removing voices seen as misaligned with the group’s views.
The Taliban-run Ministry of Higher Education has not commented publicly on the firings.
