The Taliban on Saturday ordered women to wear a head-to-toe veil, preferably a burqa, in public places in Afghanistan. This is a new episode in the escalation of restrictions and a return to a policy already practiced by the group in a previous period in power.
A decree by Taliban Supreme Leader Haibatullah Akhundzada states that if a woman does not cover her face outside the home, her father or closest male relative could be arrested or removed from public office.
“We ask the world to cooperate with the regime and the people of Afghanistan… Don’t bother us. Don’t apply more pressure, because history bears witness: the Afghans will not be affected by the pressure,” Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, the minister said in an interview. Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
According to the group, the ideal covering to wear is the blue burqa, which was mandatory for women in public during the Taliban’s previous period in power, between 1996 and 2001.
The Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice had already published several stipulations on how women should dress. But until now, the requirement was that women wear at least a veil to cover their heads, while recommending the use of the burqa.
Many women in Afghanistan wear headscarves for religious reasons, but in urban areas such as Kabul they do not cover their faces.
The Taliban has faced intense criticism from the world community, but also from some countries and Islamic scholars for limiting women’s rights, including a previous determination to keep girls’ secondary schools closed.
In response, the United States and other countries cut funding for the country’s development and imposed sanctions on the Afghan banking system.
Back in power, the Taliban has been laying down rules that limit the freedom of women — who cannot travel without a male escort, for example.
“Today we have many other problems, like suicide attacks, poverty… People die every day, our girls can’t go to school, women can’t work… But they [Talibã] they only think, talk and make laws about women’s clothing,” said Mahbouba Seraj, a women’s rights advocate in Kabul.
Back in power in August of last year, at the end of two decades of US and allied military presence in the country, the Taliban promised to establish a more tolerant and flexible regime – but quickly took steps that affected women.
Since then, the Taliban and the National Resistance Front (FNR) have been in opposition — but this Saturday the FNR announced an offensive in 12 provinces of Afghanistan, especially in the north of the country, including Panshir, where it claims to have liberated three districts.
This would be the first offensive launched by the main opposition group since the September fall of its stronghold in the Panshir Valley, 80 kilometers north of Kabul.
The FNR, which bills itself as the last democratic stronghold in Afghanistan, failed to prevent the Taliban from taking Panshir in early September. The province, however, did not fall under Soviet occupation in the 1980s, nor during the Taliban’s rise to power a decade later.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid, however, denied that any “military incident” had taken place.
