Hundreds of people each year will be denied sight-saving operations in Afghanistan after the Taliban forbade corneal transplants, doctors have told the Telegraph.

Officials have ruled that the transplant procedure is not permitted under Islamic teachings and have ordered surgeons to halt operations.

It is the latest in a stream of edicts limiting access to health care issued by the regime since it swept to power in 2021.

The edict came just months after a medical charity had helped train up local doctors to conduct operations in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and the eastern city of Jalalabad.

Doctors say there is a severe need for corneal transplants in Afghanistan to restore sight in patients injured in explosions and accidents.

Dr Noor Zaman Hashim of Noor Eye Hospital in Kabul said his staff had conducted 90 transplants in recent months, before the programme had been halted by the Taliban order.

He said the hospital had a growing waiting list, comprising mostly young people who had lost their eyesight…