Afghanistan’s Supreme Leader on Saturday Afghanistan’s top women have now imposed strict restrictions on women’s liberties since the Taliban returned to power in August, wearing burqas and full-face women in public.
“They must wear a chhatri (another name for the burqa) because it is traditional and respectable,” the decree was signed by Hibatullah Akundzada and released by the Taliban government on Saturday in front of the press in Kabul.
“Women who are neither too young nor too old should cover their faces when confronted by a man who is not part of their family,” the order added.
If they do not have important work outside, “it is better for them to stay at home”.
The Taliban also imposed the burqa when they were in power between 1996 and 2001, which was marked by a strong repression of women’s rights in accordance with the most stringent interpretation of Sharia and Islamic law.
After seizing power in mid-August, ending the twenty-year occupation of the United States and its allies that ousted them in 2001, the Taliban promised that the system would be more flexible.
But they soon broke their promises, again systematically destroying rights and wiping out 20 years of female freedom.