The Taliban on Saturday imposed one of the harshest restrictions on Afghanistan’s women since seizing power, ordering them to wear the all-covering burqa in public.
The move confirms the worst fears of rights activists and is likely to further complicate Taliban dealings with an already distrustful international community.
“We want our sisters to live with dignity and safety,” said Khalid Hanafi, the acting minister in the Taliban’s vice and virtue ministry, as it announced a decree that evoked similar restrictions on women during the Taliban’s hardline rule between 1996 and 2001.
The decree says that if a woman does not cover her face outside the home, her father or closest male relative would be visited and eventually imprisoned or fired from government jobs. The decree adds that the ideal face covering is the blue burka, which shows only the eyes.
The order was expected to spark a flurry of condemnation abroad. Many in the international community want humanitarian aid for Afghanistan and recognition of the Taliban government to be linked to the restoration of women’s rights.
The decree also said that if women had no important work outside it was “better they stay at home.”
During their first regime, the Taliban had made the burqa compulsory for Afghan women.
Since their return to power, their feared Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has issued several “guidelines” on what women should wear but Saturday’s edict was the first such national order.
The hard-line Islamists triggered an international outrage in March when they ordered secondary schools for girls to shut, just hours after reopening for the first time since they seized power. Officials have never justified the ban, apart from saying the education of girls must be according to “Islamic principles.”
The move confirms the worst fears of rights activists and is likely to further complicate Taliban dealings with an already distrustful international community.
“We want our sisters to live with dignity and safety,” said Khalid Hanafi, the acting minister in the Taliban’s vice and virtue ministry, as it announced a decree that evoked similar restrictions on women during the Taliban’s hardline rule between 1996 and 2001.
The decree says that if a woman does not cover her face outside the home, her father or closest male relative would be visited and eventually imprisoned or fired from government jobs. The decree adds that the ideal face covering is the blue burka, which shows only the eyes.
The order was expected to spark a flurry of condemnation abroad. Many in the international community want humanitarian aid for Afghanistan and recognition of the Taliban government to be linked to the restoration of women’s rights.
The decree also said that if women had no important work outside it was “better they stay at home.”
During their first regime, the Taliban had made the burqa compulsory for Afghan women.
Since their return to power, their feared Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has issued several “guidelines” on what women should wear but Saturday’s edict was the first such national order.
The hard-line Islamists triggered an international outrage in March when they ordered secondary schools for girls to shut, just hours after reopening for the first time since they seized power. Officials have never justified the ban, apart from saying the education of girls must be according to “Islamic principles.”
