Taliban codifies law dictating how men and women appear in public : NPR

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

The Taliban has announced a wide-ranging law that all but codifies the disappearance of women from public life in Afghanistan. It comes now three years since the group returned to power after U.S. and NATO forces pulled out of the country. NPR’s Diaa Hadid covers Afghanistan from her base in Mumbai. She joined us now. Diaa, thanks for being with us.

DIAA HADID, BYLINE: Thank you, Scott.

SIMON: Please tell us about this law that the Taliban announced just yesterday.

HADID: Right. Well, this was announced by the ministry for the prevention of vice and promotion of virtue. The law demands women must cover their faces in public so they don’t cause temptation. They can’t travel without a male guardian. They can’t speak loudly, even laugh, in public. And one leading Afghan lawyer described it to me as horrific. Azadah Raz Mohammad is at the Atlantic Council.

AZADAH RAZ MOHAMMAD: I believe this is a continuation of the Taliban’s intimidation and oppression of women – from the way we’re dressed to how we appear in public, how we talk, how we even laugh. It says that women shouldn’t laugh very loud, and the laugh of women should not be heard by a man, which is extremely horrifying to actually see that this is actually codified.

HADID: And it is codified. These laws also touch on men. They must grow their beards long. They may not dress in Western clothes or sport Western haircuts.

SIMON: Diaa, it sounds like a lot of that was happening already in Afghanistan. What’s new with this announcement?

HADID: Yeah. And, in fact, Scott, if I can remind you, the Taliban have largely enforced a ban from girls studying beyond grade six, and women aren’t allowed to work in most professions already. The difference is that wasn’t the law, so there was room to maneuver. What’s been codified now is actually more extreme, and it’s been signed off by the Taliban’s spiritual leader. If these laws are enforced, it would be the job of officials of that very wordy ministry for the prevention of vice and promotion of virtue. But even if it isn’t implemented fully, they hang over Afghans, and they could be used at any moment. And some of these laws, frankly, are quite vague.

SIMON: How are they vague?

HADID: Some of the laws say that Muslims can’t befriend a non-Muslim or help them. And that could have sweeping consequences like can Afghans still work for the U.N., where there’s a lot of non-Muslims? Can foreign aid workers work alongside Afghans to distribute aid? Can a foreign journalist work with an Afghan reporter? There’s also a ban on the broadcasting and publishing of images of people. So what happens to your passport or your identity card?

SIMON: Diaa, why do you think this is occurring three years after the U.S. pullout?

HADID: I put this to Ashley Jackson. She’s the co-director for the Center on Armed Groups, and she thinks this might be about the Taliban supreme leader, the emir, trying to assert control.

ASHLEY JACKSON: This is very much about an emir who has been thwarted time and again in many ways. And probably knows that he’s been thwarted from taking the more extreme measures that he wants.

HADID: Because, in fact, the emir of the Taliban is more extreme than many of his followers. So, for instance, that ban on studying or women working, some officials were trying to find ways around it. But Azadah Raz Mohammad from the Atlantic Council, she argues the Taliban were emboldened to do this after the U.N. and international community representatives agreed to meet them in June. Afghan women were not invited to the main meeting, and they were not on the public agenda. Mohammad says the Taliban took that as a sign that they enjoy impunity. And she says the international community has to rethink its approach.

RAZ MOHAMMAD: I think the international community has this moral and legal obligation to intervene and to stop Taliban from imposing such a oppressive system with such an impunity and to finally, perhaps, move from this nightmare that is unfolding before our eyes right now.

HADID: A nightmare, and one that isn’t ending for many Afghan women.

SIMON: NPR’s Diaa Hadid. Thank you so much.

HADID: You’re welcome, Scott.

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