Afghan Women Protest Taliban Burqa Edict

Biden - Members of Afghanistan's Powerful Women Movement, take part in a protest in Kabul
WAKIL KOHSAR/AFP via Getty Images
Frances Martel

A group of women identifying themselves as members of an anti-jihadist collective known as the “Justice and Freedom Movement” organized a protest on Monday in Kabul, Afghanistan, against a Taliban decree passed over the weekend mandating women cover their faces in public.

The Sunni terrorist group’s edict mandated the use of a hijab, an Arabic term typically referring to a veil covering the hair, but specified that women must also cover their faces. Taliban “Supreme Leader” Mullah Haibutullah Akhundzada, through his office, said in relation to the edict that the best kind of hijab was the burqa, a full-body garment that covers even a woman’s eyes — an indication that Taliban terrorists would not accept anything less as a true hijab.

The Quran commands Muslims to maintain modesty and for women, in particular, to guard their physical privacy. It does not specifically command women to cover their face and Muslims vary widely around the world in how they interpret the command, from loose scarves partially covering a woman’s hair to the use of the burqa. When in power during the 1990s, the Taliban mandated that women wear burqa in public at all times and its leaders have repeatedly argued following their return to power that some form of hijab is mandatory, but burqa is the preferred covering.

The Taliban returned to power in August after President Joe Biden extended the 20-year Afghan War beyond the agreed-up May 1, 2021, deadline – prompting the Taliban to attack the U.S.-backed government and seize Kabul.

A video published by Afghanistan’s Tolo News on Tuesday showed a group of women in hijab (notably, not in burqa) marching in Kabul, loudly chanting anti-burqa slogans. The women also held signs against the Taliban edict and reportedly demanded a “review” of the declaration.

The Afghan news agency Khaama Press reported that the women were protesting what they called “misogyny” on the part of the Taliban and demanding that the jihadists stay out of “the most personal aspects of women’s lives.”

“The women demonstrators also adopted a resolution stating that the Taliban are intruding in the most personal aspects of women’s lives, and that this was a clear violation of a human being’s individual, social, and civic rights,” Khaama reported. “They claim that by doing so, the Taliban will gain complete control over women.”

Khaama noted that the women also objected specifically to the burqa as a garment that has no direct ties to Islam, but rather, is a “tribal tradition” the Taliban is now attempting to impose on people outside of the Pashtun ethnic group that dominates the jihadist organization.

“The protestors consider the Taliban’s recent decree as an attack on the culture of other ethnic groups in Afghanistan, and say it’s unethical to impose one tribe’s culture and cover on other ethnic groups,” Khaama Press observed.

The Taliban decree came down on Saturday local time through the terrorist organization’s “Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice,” which micromanages the lives of Afghans to ensure they follow the group’s fundamentalist interpretation of Islam. In addition to mandating face coverings, the decree highly discouraged women from leaving their homes if at all possible. It also claimed jihadists would use a “warning” system to help citizens get used to the new rules before punishing them.

“If a woman doesn’t wear a hijab, first, her house will be located and her guardian will be advised and warned. Next, if the hijab is not considered, her guardian will be summoned,” a spokesman for the “Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice” announced. “If repeated, her guardian (father, brother or husband) will be imprisoned for three days. If repeated again, her guardian will be sent to court for further punishment, the plan reads.”

The Taliban began openly promoting the use of burqa in January, papering Kabul with flyers that read, “a Muslim woman must observe the hijab,” but featured photos only of burqas.

Afghan women have consistently taken the streets of Kabul protesting the return of the Taliban to power. Taliban jihadists have repeatedly promised to treat women fairly “within the sharia,” or Islamic law, but almost immediately began banning women from going to their workplaces or leaving their homes. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid advised women to stay home indefinitely in August, arguing that war-hardened jihadists did not know how to properly address women and Taliban leaders needed time to learn “how to deal with you,” referring to women and girls.

Some small protests of women also occurred outside the capital, particularly in Herat, demanding a role for women in the Taliban’s “government.” The Taliban has allowed some protests in Kabul while violently attacking others, using those it permits as evidence that it is respecting freedom of expression.

The Taliban is currently the regime in power in Afghanistan but no state actor or international institution has recognized it as the official government of Afghanistan. The United Nations voted in March to allow its members to cooperate with the Taliban in a resolution that allows for engagement with “relevant Afghan political actors.” No other political actors are challenging the Taliban’s claim to being the government of Afghanistan; former President Ashraf Ghani fled the country to the United Arab Emirates and has largely disappeared from public view.

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