The Taliban are once again requiring Afghan women to fully cover their faces in public. A spokesman for Hibatullah Akhundzada, the top Taliban boss, announced this during a press conference on Saturday, according to Reuters news agency. The decree marks one of the most far-reaching in a series of measures curtailing the rights of Afghan women since the Taliban returned to power in August 2021.
If a woman does not follow the new rule, her father or closest male relative is at risk of being fired or jailed. According to Akhundzada, the Afghan blue burqa is the “ideal form” of face covering because it is “traditional and respectful”. This burqa became a symbol of the extremist group’s restrictive policies during the last Taliban rule – between 1996 and 2001. In the capital Kabul, in particular, many women have stopped wearing face-coverings since 2001, when the United States invaded the country.
Twenty years later, when the Taliban regained power from the Americans and their international partners, many at home and abroad feared that women’s rights would again be severely curtailed. The extremist group initially promised to keep most of the women’s rights acquired during its 20-year absence, but in recent months it has increasingly become apparent that this was an empty promise. For example, the Taliban restricted the right of women to mahram (male chaperone) to travel heavily, and they have closed most girls’ schools.
Also read this article in which twenty Afghan women talk about their fears shortly after the return of the Taliban: “Don’t value the Taliban’s promises.”