Taliban order Afghan women to cover from head to toe in public

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers on Saturday ordered all Afghan women to wear head-to-toe clothing in public – a sharp, hard-line pivot that confirmed the worst fears of rights activists and was bound to further complicate Taliban dealings with an already distrustful international community.

The decree, which calls for women to only show their eyes and recommends they wear the head-to-toe burqa, evoked similar restrictions on women during the Taliban’s previous rule between 1996 and 2001.

“We want our sisters to live with dignity and safety,” said Khalid Hanafi, acting minister for the Taliban’s vice and virtue ministry.

The Taliban have previously decided not to reopen schools to girls above 6 years old, reneging upon an earlier promise and opting for appeasement of their hard-line base at any cost to further alienate the international community.

This decision hampered the Taliban’s efforts to gain recognition from international donors, at a time that the country is in worsening humanitarian crises.

“For all dignified Afghan women wearing Hijab is necessary and the best Hijab is chadori (the head-to-toe burqa) which is part of our tradition and is respectful,” saidShir Mohammad is an official of the vice and virtue ministry, in a statement

“Those women who are not too old or young must cover their face, except the eyes,” he said.

It was also stated that women should not be doing any important work outside of home if they are not required to. “Islamic principles and Islamic ideology are more important to us than anything else,” Hanafi said.

Heather Barr, a senior researcher on Afghanistan for Human Rights Watch, urged the international community not to let the Taliban get away with their lives.

“(It is) far past time for a serious and strategic response to the Taliban’s escalating assault on women’s rights,” she wrote on Twitter.

The Taliban were ousted in 2001 by a U.S.-led coalition for harboring al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and returned to power after America’s chaotic departure last year.

As they attempt to transition from war and governing, the Taliban leadership have been quarreling since taking power last August. It has pitted hard-liners against more pragmatic members.

It is a frustrating fact that many Taliban from the younger generation, including Sirajuddin Haiqani, are now educating their girls in Pakistan. However, in Afghanistan, women and girls have been the target of their repressive edicts ever since they took power.

Girls have been banned from school beyond grade 6 in most of the country since the Taliban’s return. The Taliban took power in Afghanistan earlier this year and opened universities across the country. However, they have continued to impose erratic edicts on the country. While some provinces provided education for all, the majority of them closed down schools for girls and women.

The Taliban administration, driven by religious beliefs, is concerned that enrollment of girls beyond sixth grade may alienate their rural base. said.

Private schools and universities continue to operate in Kabul, the capital.