By Jason Straziuso, AP
The Taliban gunmen who murdered two teachers in eastern Afghanistan early Saturday were only following their rules: Teachers receive a warning, then a beating and, if they continue to teach, must be killed.

The 30 rules, decided on during a high Taliban meeting in September or October and since circulated over the Internet, span from the organizational -- no jihad equipment may be used for personal means -- to the health-conscious -- fighters are not supposed to smoke.

They also contain a grave warning for aid workers and educators.

Rule No. 24 forbids anyone to work as a teacher "under the current puppet regime, because this strengthens the system of the infidels." No. 25 says that teachers who ignore Taliban warnings will be killed.

Taliban militants early Saturday broke into a house in the eastern province of Konar, killing a family of five, including two sisters who were teachers.

The women had been warned in a letter to quit teaching, said Gulam Ullah Wekar, the provincial education director. Their mother, grandmother and a male relative were also slain in the attack.

The two sisters brought to 20 the number of teachers killed in Taliban attacks this year, said Education Ministry spokesman Zuhur Afghan. He said 198 schools have been burned down this year, up from about 150 last year.

The 30 Taliban rules also spell out opposition to development projects from aid organizations, including clinics, roads and schools.

"If a school fails a warning to close, it must be burned. But all religious books must be secured beforehand," rule No. 26 says.

An addendum to the rules said they were distributed initially at a meeting of top Taliban leaders during Ramadan this year. The rules were signed by Mohammad Omar, the fugitive Taliban leader and "the highest leader of the Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan," according to the document.

A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, confirmed the authenticity of the rules. He said aid organizations were not working for the Afghan people but for the policies of occupying countries. "If they won't stop their work, we will target them, like we've targeted them in the past," he said.

Mohammad Hashim Mayar, the deputy director of the Agency Coordinating Body for Afghan Relief, an oversight body for almost 100 aid organizations in Afghanistan, said the rules are no surprise.

"They've been practicing this in the past," Mayar said. "We already knew when they were burning schools, when they were killing people, we said that they were against education."

The rules confirm a Taliban policy of undermining all forms of development that benefit ordinary Afghans and seem to sanction the targeting of civilians, said Maj. Luke Knittig, a spokesman for NATO's International Security Assistance Force.

"The rules likely represent an attempt at indirect leadership by the Taliban in the face of increasingly hindered ability to lead directly and visibly," said Knittig, who said officials had no reason to doubt the authenticity of the rules.

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