Taliban to enforce burqa as laws for women tightened

AFGHAN women will be forced by the Taliban to wear a full veil as the militant group brought back one of their most notorious strictures.

It is the latest restriction on women since the Taliban seized power nine months ago, having declared they had changed from their repressive regime of the 1990s.

The Taliban’s revived Islamic Emirate has now banned women from government jobs, stopped girls from going to secondary school and prevented women from travelling alone.

Mariam Solaimankhil, a member of parliament under the ousted Afghan republic, said: “If you believe the Taliban have changed, you’re an idiot.”

Virtually all Afghan women cover their heads, but many do not wear the floor-length burqa which covers the face with a panel of woven mesh.

Yesterday, Khalid Hanafi, acting minister for the Taliban’s vice and virtue ministry, said: “We want our sisters to live with dignity and safety.”

The ministry said the male guardian of any woman not complying could be jailed for three days.

After the fall of the Western-backed government last year, the Taliban said the rights of women in Afghanistan would be respected “within the framework of Islamic law”.