New rules recently passed which further intensify restrictions on women in Afghanistan have been sharply criticized by other countries—but with little concern from the Taliban.
On Monday August 26, the oppressive Islamic governing body rejected criticism of its new laws allegedly in place to promote virtue and discourage vice, which were passed on Wednesday August 21. The Taliban has been in power on the ground of Afghanistan for the past three years, since the United States and other allies historically backtracked on their long-standing presence in the country.
Days after the law was codified, Roza Otunbayeva, head of UNAMA, the United Nations Afghanistan mission, described the rules as presenting the country’s future in a “distressing vision.” She declared the laws to further impose “intolerable restrictions” on women and girls with its broad and widely criticized definition of immoral behavior.
The rules mandate that women in Afghanistan must hide their faces, bodies, and even voices when out in public—meaning, anywhere outside their own homes. They are also not permitted to travel without a male guardian and must not speak loudly or laugh in public. The laws also requires that men keep facial beards and prohibit photographs or images of living beings.
The OHCHR, the United Nation’s human rights office, released a statement from spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani, who criticized the laws as silencing the voices of women and stealing “their autonomy.” She lamented the rules as “utterly intolerable” and demanded that the Taliban “immediately repeal this legislation,” which the OHCHR noted is bluntly violating the country’s “obligations under international human rights law.”
Responding to the concerns from the OHCHR and the UNAMA, Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said that the concern comes from “arrogance” related to those who are ignorant of Islamic Sharia law. He added that there should be “thorough understanding” from critics about the laws and “respectful acknowledgment of Islamic values.”
Mujahid also emphasized that the backlash against the laws “will not sway” the Taliban from what he described as its “commitment to upholding and enforcing Islamic Sharia law.”
