8am: The Ministry of Higher Education, under Taliban control, has instructed all universities in the country to purge their libraries of books from the republic era and replace them with the book “Seerat”, or the prophetic biography. A copy of the ministry’s letter has been made available to the Hasht-e Subh Daily, revealing that the letter explicitly mentions books from Salafis, Tahriris, Shiites, and political opponents of the republic era. The acting head of the Ministry of Higher Education of the Taliban has ordered that before the purge, the list of books should be shared with him. This directive comes amid the prevention of approximately 500 male students from traveling to Russia. The acting head of the Ministry of Higher Education of the Taliban, told the students, “You go as Muslims and come back as Communists.” This Taliban official continues to assert that a Taliban member’s academic rank should be calculated based on the number of mines he has implemented over the past twenty years. Click here to read more (external link).