Imran Khan's Jihad and Taliban before 911.

Imran Khan's Jihad and Taliban before 911.

An Afghan Penalty For Soccer Shorts Published: July 18, 2000 The religious police of Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement arrested visiting Pakistani soccer players on Saturday and shaved their heads because they were wearing shorts, Afghan and team officials said today. The players from the Pakistani border town of Chaman were released after the incident at a playground in the southern Afghan town of Kandahar, the Taliban headquarters. A junior team of Chaman's Young Afghan Football Club had played two matches in Kandahar and was warming up for a third when the Taliban police took the players into custody as thousands of spectators watched, said the club manager, Abdul Qayyum. ''Their heads were shaven,'' he said. ''Five of our players managed to escape from the scene.'' His players were ''quite annoyed,'' he said. ''Guests are not treated like this in our society.'' A Taliban Information Ministry official in Kandahar said the players had violated the Taliban dress code under which male athletes must wear trousers while playing. The Taliban, who have vowed to create the world's purest Islamic state, have ordered women to wear an all-enveloping veil outside their homes and men to grow long beards and to cover their heads.