Taliban chief orders women to wear all-covering burqa in public: Decree

A girl sits with girls sporting burqas outside a hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan October 5, 2021. (File photograph: Reuters)

Published: 07 May ,2022: 11:58 AM GST Up to date: 07 May ,2022: 12:53 PM GST

Afghanistan’s supreme leader and Taliban chief on Saturday ordered the nation’s ladies to put on the all-covering burqa in public - one of the harshest controls imposed on ladies’s lives since the Taliban seized energy.

“They need to put on a chadori (head-to-toe burqa) as it is traditional and respectful,” stated a decree issued by Hibatullah Akhundzada that was launched by Taliban authorities at a function in Kabul.

“Those girls who aren't too old or younger must cover their face, besides the eyes, as per sharia directives, to be able to keep away from provocation when meeting men who usually are not mahram (adult close male kinfolk),” the decree said.

It added that if women had no vital work outdoors it was “better they keep at residence.”

During their first regime between 1996 and 2001, the Taliban imposed related restrictions on girls.