8am: The Ministry of Higher Education under Taliban control has instructed professors in Uzbek language and literature departments at public universities to translate academic works only into one of the two official languages, Persian or Pashto, if they wish to qualify for promotion. However, Uzbek students, university professors, and writers describe this decision as rooted in the Taliban’s bias against the growth of the Uzbek language and urge the group to stop hindering the development and enrichment of the country’s third most widely spoken language. Click here to read more (external link).