RASC News Agency: After the Taliban dismissed 17 professors from Sheikh Zayed University in Khost, sources now report that the group has compiled a list of 32 additional professors targeted for removal. On Thursday, January 16, insiders revealed that the majority of these professors hold advanced degrees, including master’s qualifications. Sources indicate that the Taliban are clearing the way for clerics to replace these experienced academics, aligning with their ideological objectives. Many of the targeted professors have been teaching at the university since the previous government, according to reports.
Just days ago, the Taliban expelled 17 professors from the university’s Faculty of Sharia, further consolidating their control over academic institutions. Additionally, the Taliban have dismissed employees from the Khost Traffic Directorate who had been in their roles since the former administration. As a fundamentalist group rooted in religious and ethnic ideology, the Taliban govern based on two primary doctrines. The first, “Afghanism,” rejects concepts of justice, equality, and the inclusion of ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity. The second, “Islamism,” reflects their radical interpretation of Islam, marked by secrecy, coercion, and authoritarianism.
These principles underpin the Taliban’s systematic exclusion of non-Pashtun ethnic groups from governmental roles. They have concentrated the overwhelming majority of government positions and power in the hands of Pashtuns. Moreover, the group has escalated efforts to eliminate educated professionals and non-clerics from positions of influence, a policy that has been most visible in universities and other educational and administrative institutions.
