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A few weeks ago, the jihadists prohibited women from studying beyond primary school
As of this Saturday, the women of Afghanistan will have to cover their entire bodies with the burqa every time they leave the house. This was announced by the supreme leader of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan —the Taliban government—Hibatulla Ahundzada.
The burqa is a garment only used, throughout the world, in Afghanistanand covers the entire woman’s body without exception: unlike other veils —some of which open on the face and hands—, the burqa cover everything. In the hands, gloves, and before the eyes, a fabric fence completely isolates the woman from the outside world. Its use was already mandatory from 1996 to 2001 and now the Taliban, in government, impose it again.
“[Las mujeres] must wear the burqa, since it is traditional and respectful& rdquor ;, the Taliban supreme leader said this morning in a statement issued by the group’s government in Kabulcapital conquered in August 2021, almost a year ago.
“Those women who are not too old or too young have to cover their faces, as march the sharia -the sharia law—, to avoid provocation when they meet a man who is not their Close relative [marido, hermano o padre]& rdquor ;, reads the statement.
According to Islamic law, a woman must cover herself as soon as she gets the first menstruationwhich marks the moment when a young woman supposedly arrives at the adulthood and, therefore, becomes the desire of men and can legally marry. After menopausecovering is no longer mandatory, but the stigma means that few women take it off.
Leaving home
Ajundzada, in the same letter, also affirms something that the Taliban also imposed in Afghanistan the last time they ruled, from 1996 to 2001: that women “will do well always stay at home unless they have a very important matter to attend to & rdquor ;.
It is something that happens, above all, in the rural areas of the countrywhere a young woman, having her first menstruation, disappears from public life and she is locked up at home, first in her parents’ and then her husband’s, once she is married.
When they took control of the country in August last year, the Taliban started a media campaign to show that they had learned from their past mistakes and would not impose, as they did in the 1990s, the same harsh rules of repression against Afghans, especially women.
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Less than a year after his military victoryhowever, now more settled in power, the discourse has changed and the restrictions women are the order of the day. And not just on the streets.
Also in schools: after promising the press and the international community that young women would have access to educationlast month the women who studied higher than primary courses They saw how the doors of their educational centers were closed in their faces, on the day they had to open for the first time. They are not expected to reopen for the time being, and now only men have access to a minimal education.