The Taliban's pick for the new Vice-Chancellor of Kabul University, Mohammad Ashraf Ghairat, had once called for the killing of journalists. His appointment as the new Vice-Chancellor of the university sparked outrage on social media when users dug up some of his old tweets.

Further, a Facebook post written by a person named Arif Bahrami, who claims to be a college class fellow of Ghairat, has also been doing the rounds on social media, the Pakistan-based Friday Times newspaper reported.

Bahrami claims that Ghairat was always disrespectful towards his women class fellows and professors while he was studying at Kabul University. The person also claimed that Ghairat had barely received pass marks in 'very easy subjects', the report said.

However, Ghairat claims the criticism is unfair. Responding to the backlash, he said, "I request you to calm down and inquire about me and my academic background."

In one of the tweets which he posted last year in June, Ghairat had spoken about murdering journalists. "A spy journalist is more dangerous than a hundred Arbaki (Local Police/Paramilitary). I doubt the faith of those who restrain from killing journalists. Kill Spy Journalists. Contain Media," the tweet said. The tweet has since been deleted from his account.

The appointment has received widespread reactions on social media as a young bachelor degree holder replaced an intellectual and experienced PhD holder as head of the best and the very first university in Afghanistan.

People, including some Taliban members, have criticised the move and said that there were more eligible people than him among them, Khaama Press reported.