Taliban orders Afghan women to wear burka

AFGHAN women have been ordered to wear the allcovering burka by the Taliban.

The decree evokes restrictions imposed during the hard-line group’s previous rule from 1996 to 2001. ‘We want our sisters to live with dignity and safety,’ said Khalid Hanafi, of the country’s ministry of vice and virtue.

Official Shir Mohammad added: ‘Those women who are not too old or young must cover their face, except the eyes.’

As well as wearing a burka, pictured, women were also told to stay at home if they ‘have no important work to be done outside’. The Taliban has already gone back on a vow to reopen secondary schools for girls.

That decision hit efforts to win help from international donors to alleviate the country’s humanitarian crisis.

Heather Barr, of Human Rights Watch, called for a ‘serious and strategic response to the Taliban’s escalating assault on women’s rights’.