Breaking: Taliban orders Afghan women to wear all-covering burka in public

The Taliban announced at a press conference today, Saturday, May 7, that the all-covering burka must be worn by all women when appearing in public.

The Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice made the announcement on behalf of the group’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, in what is a return to the policy enforced between 1996 and 2001.

Then the blue burka became a symbol of the Taliban regime and its restrictions on women in public, a covering they have once again suggested is the ideal one.

The majority of women in Afghanistan wear a headscarf for religious reasons, but many in urban areas such as Kabul do not cover their faces.

Khalid Hanafi, Acting Minister for the Taliban’s ministry, said: “We want our sisters to live with dignity and safety.”

The decree says a woman’s father or closest male relative would be visited and eventually imprisoned or fired from government jobs if she did not cover her face outside the home.

Shir Mohammad, an official from the vice and virtue ministry, said: “For all dignified Afghan women wearing Hajib is necessary and the best Hajib is chadori (the head-to-toe burka) which is part of our tradition and is respectful.”

The international community has urged leaders to reconsider the order to wear all-covering burkas in public, in what is another reversal of promises made. The Taliban decided not to reopen schools to girls above grade six (11-years-of-age) after agreeing to do so.

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