Taliban vows to respect women rights, makes Hijab mandatory in public places

Kabul : Soon after taking control of Kabul after former President Ashraf Ghani left Afghanistan, Taliban issued a statement, saying that they will continue to respect women rights but they will have to wear the hijab (a religious veil worn by Muslim and Mandaean women in the presence of any male outside of their immediate family) when in public.

Suhail Shaheen, a Taliban spokesperson asserted, “We will respect rights of women. Our policy is that women will have access to education and work, to wear the hijab.”

He also mentioned that media will be allowed to criticize anyone but character assassination will not be tolerated in the nation.

"Foreigners in the country can leave if they wish, but in case they want to stay they will have to register their presence with Taliban administrators," he stated.

Earlier also, there have been many times when Taliban said that they want a genuine Islamic system that aligns well with the tradition of Afghan, but it is unclear what exactly that means, and how different that ‘genuine Islamic system’ would be from their previous rule.

A look at earlier Taliban ruled days

During their earlier regime (1996-2001), the Taliban used to prevent women from attending school. Moreover, they had banned them from working jobs outside of healthcare (male doctors were prohibited from seeing women). They were forced to wear a burqa at all times when in public and forbidden from leaving home without a male ‘guardian’. If women broke certain rules, they were publicly whipped or executed.