Taliban have barred women in Panjshir from traveling without wearing a burqa, local sources told Amu TV, adding that the ban applies to both entry into and exit from the province.
According to the sources, Taliban morality enforcers have established multiple checkpoints throughout Panjshir to monitor women’s clothing. At these posts, women are required to wear a full-body burqa to pass.
The sources added that even girls under the age of 15 have been questioned and warned that they are not allowed to travel unless they wear a burqa — even if they wear a traditional cloak and cover their faces.
Since returning to power nearly four years ago, the Taliban have imposed increasingly strict restrictions on the rights and freedoms of women and girls across Afghanistan.
Under a decree issued by the Taliban in August of last year, the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice declared that even a woman’s voice is considered “awrah,” or a part of the body that must be concealed under their interpretation of Islamic law.
