Ali Sediqullah, Taliban’s deputy minister of vice and virtue, claimed on Wednesday that their new “morality law” has been designed to “reform” women’s behavior. He added that the law grants women “unprecedented rights” and that they are shown respect “to an extent never seen elsewhere.”
“From start to finish, this law is about family and women’s reform,” Sediqullah said at an event in Kabul. “If the entire world and human rights activists gather, we are firm in our belief in God, and there has never been this level of respect for women.”
However, many women and girls voiced concerns, saying that the new morality law and the heightened presence of the Taliban’s morality police have made life significantly more restrictive.
They report feeling fearful about leaving their homes, noting that the law intensifies social restrictions in ways they see as an affront to their dignity.
Taliban have implemented the morality law gradually across the country, sending enforcement orders from province to province. The law outlines numerous prohibitions, with women’s public presence especially constrained. Among other measures, it classifies the female voice as immodest, prohibiting its public expression.
Human Rights Watch has condemned the situation as one of the world’s most severe crises for women and urged international action to hold the Taliban accountable. Heather Barr, the organization’s associate director for women’s rights, remarked that conditions for women and girls in Afghanistan “are more alarming than ever.” She added that while the Taliban have sought international legitimacy, global attention is divided by conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine, and the potential re-election of Donald Trump in the United States could further complicate the situation. “It’s unclear what approach Trump would take toward Afghanistan,” she said, “but it appears unlikely that women’s rights will be a priority for his administration.”
Most nations have called on the Taliban to repeal the restrictive morality law. However, the Taliban’s minister for the promotion of virtue has insisted that the law will be enforced fully as long as they remain in power, regardless of the duration of their rule.
Enforcement of the morality law has already begun, with media outlets in some provinces ceasing the broadcast of images of living beings as part of a broader effort to limit public expression.
The Taliban’s new morality law, enacted in September, empowers officials to impose fines, detention, and punishment on individuals they deem in violation. Among the law’s most controversial elements is the prohibition on women’s voices in public spaces, restricting them from singing, reciting, or even reading aloud. The law mandates strict dress codes, requiring women to cover their entire bodies and conceal their faces to “prevent temptation.”
Article 13 of the law stipulates, “A woman’s body must be fully covered. Hiding her face is necessary to avoid temptation, and her voice (singing, chanting, or reading in public) is considered shameful.”
Additionally, Article 13 prohibits men from looking at women other than their wives and bans women from looking at unrelated men. The morality police are tasked with enforcing these restrictions and ensuring that neither women’s voices nor music can be heard outside the home.
The law has drawn fierce criticism from both domestic and international human rights organizations, who view the regulations as further curtailing women’s rights under the Taliban regime. Taliban officials, however, have remained adamant about enforcing these rules, despite the mounting backlash.
