Taliban enforces ban on women’s public gatherings
The Taliban have banned women’s voices from being heard amongst other women.
Khalid Hanafi, the Taliban’s minister for virtue, has said it was forbidden for adult women to allow their voices to be heard in further restrictions on women’s lives in Afghanistan.
He emphasized they must not perform an Islamic prayer or recite the Quran.
The Taliban have also forbid female healthcare workers from meeting with their patient’s male companions.
Other laws introduced in August included the ban on women reading or singing in public.
They must also veil their face and body at all times in public, and only wear loose fitting clothing to avoid tempting others and not look at men who they are not related or married to.
The men in turn are also forbidden to look at women.
Samira, a midwife in Herat, said: ‘I have been working in clinics in remote areas for eight years, but in these last two months, the Taliban’s oversight has intensified.
‘They don’t even allow us to speak at checkpoints when we go to work.
‘And in the clinics, we’re told not to discuss medical matters with male relatives.’
Afghan women’s rights activists have said the misogynistic policies are restricting their ability to move, work, and even speak freely.
One activist said: ‘How are women who are the sole providers for their families supposed to buy bread, seek medical care, or simply exist if even their voices are forbidden?
‘These orders immobilize women and have made life exhausting for all of us.’
A UN report in July said the ministry was contributing to a climate of fear and intimidation among Afghans, especially women and girls.
The ministry for the ‘propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice’ was set up when the Taliban seized power in 2021, making this recent set of laws the first formal declaration of vice and virtue laws in Afghanistan under Taliban rule.
The laws make it easier for authorities to regulate conduct and enforce arrests and punishments where they deem necessary.
The Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has also banned the release of any images showing living beings, including in official broadcasts.
So far, Taliban run media in the provinces of Takhar, Maidan Wardak and Kandahar have been advised to follow the rule and have complied, ministry spokesman Saif ul Islam Khyber confirmed.
The ban has sparked concerns about the consequences it will have for Afghan media and press freedom.
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