In Afghanistan, Taliban dictators have sparked controversy over women’s clothing | Stories

Kabul, Afghanistan – Many Afghan women in Kabul’s capital have staged protests against a Taliban-led campaign to encourage women to wear a burqa or hijab.

Afghanistan’s Ministry of Goodness and Prevention The Second Posted a banner at Kabul’s restaurants and shops last week urging the wearing of burqa, a full-length veil that also covers the face. It did not provide a valid rule

“According to Sharia law, a Muslim woman must keep the hijab,” she wrote in a note, along with photographs of women wearing blue burqa and other blacks. The word “hijab” was accompanied by each image as if to describe how it should be.

Many Muslim women around the world choose to wear a veil – in a variety of colors – as a symbol of their faith and part of their culture.

Afghan women often wear burqa – mostly sold in shades of blue, white, and gray – but black robes are very rare throughout the country.

The Taliban, who returned to power in August, made it clear that dress was not necessary, but insisted that women wear their bodies according to their Islamic beliefs. During their last term between 1996 and 2001, the wearing of a burqa was forced.

Today, the streets of Kabul are filled with women wearing elaborate veils. While some wear burqas that cover their faces, others wear headdresses with a variety of traditional and western colors.

Many Afghan women do not see the conflict – because head covering is part of the everyday clothing of Afghan women – while others have accused it of violating their rights.

“As Afghan women, we know our religious freedom and our needs,” said Jamila Afghani, a women’s rights activist and deputy minister of labor and social affairs.

“It should be a women’s choice to wear what they want,” said Afghani, who also heads the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) in Afghanistan.

For Afghans, the campaign also highlights the Taliban’s obsession with unnecessary things amid the growing economic crisis that has left many families unable to feed their children.

“They should be busy doing more important work than women’s clothing,” Afghani said. “Many women already wear traditional dress [shawl or headscarf]so why does this happen. ”

Instruction or law?

Prophet Muhammad Akif Muhajir, a spokesman for the Ministry of Promoting Goodness and Prevention of the Second Counsel, told Al Jazeera that because the hijab or burqa is a “Quran Order”, Muslim women should wear it.

“If Sharia commands them [women] to do something he has to do, “he said, adding that the hijab or burqa could be” anything a woman uses to cover her body ….

While there is no law enforcing the wearing of burqa, or penalties for women who do not follow the rules, there have been reports of time Taliban militants are trying to force them.

“These things are going to be difficult without proper guidance and training on how to fight,” said Obaidullah Baheer, a professor of long-term justice at American University in Afghanistan.

“When they [Taliban fighters] is given a form [by their leaders] in order to be responsible for public safety, they simply abuse their authority, ”he said.

Many Afghan women criticize the Taliban’s claim that secrecy is important for women

“The way I dress does not conflict with my religion,” said Arifa Fatimi, a women’s rights activist in Kabul.

Sonia Ahmadyar, a 36-year-old mother of three, said: “I strongly oppose coercing other women’s clothing. We should not be forced to wear what we do not want.”

According to Afghani, the idea of ​​the Taliban burqa is not what Islam asks of women. “If they [the Taliban] when it comes to Sharia, Islam does not refer to women’s clothing.

“This raises the question: does the Taliban really understand Shariah?”

They are trying to put a veil over women’s faces, while a man’s face is his personality.

Jamila Afghani, women’s rights activist

Women face all kinds of pressures

For Afghan women, the economic crisis has affected the country supplementation and other restrictions and the Taliban in their activities, education and travel.

In protest of the ban – including the burqa – some Afghan women rallied around the Ministry of Women Affairs last week.

TV shows showed a small group of women criticizing various restrictions, with some tearing a woman to a white burqa and throwing it to the ground, claiming it came from “Pakistani-Arab backgrounds”.

Taliban religious police have erected signs around Kabul urging Afghan women to hide [File: Mohd Rasfan/AFP]

Commenting on the event, Sahar Ghumkhor, a student at the University of Melbourne and author of The Political Psychology of the Veil, said: “It is important to emphasize that the chador / burqa has been worn in Afghanistan long before the Taliban.

“The protests include her insistence on being ‘foreign’, which takes away the reality of the women who wear it, especially in rural Afghanistan.”

He also said that most of the women at the show were dressed in western style: “If the story is foreign, then why refuse to vote?” he asked.

Ghumkhor noted that “cover-ups have been the catalyst for a reduction in the number of critical social, political, and economic factors.”

While the placement of the veil is to be criticized, “her presence in Afghanistan’s feminist ideology should be questioned, especially at a time when the country is starving.” he added.

WILFP Afghani acknowledged that burqa has become part of Afghanistan culture.

“Burqa has been a part of Afghan culture for a long time, especially in villages and remote areas, even in cities among older women,” she said, adding that her mother and grandmother dress.

Afghan women are facing a major economic crisis around the country that has been exacerbated by other restrictions on their jobs, education and travel. [File: Wakil Kohsar/AFP]