This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
The Taliban has attempted to police the public appearances and behavior of millions of Afghans, especially women, since seizing power in 2021.
But the enforcement of the extremist group’s rules governing morality, including its strict Islamic dress code and gender segregation in society, was sporadic and uneven across the country.
Now, the hard-line Islamist group has formally codified into law its long set of draconian restrictions, triggering fear among Afghans of stricter enforcement.
The Law On the Propagation Of Virtue And Prevention Of Vice, which was officially enacted and published on August 21, imposes severe restrictions on the appearances, behavior, and movement of women. The law also enforces constraints on men.
Adela, a middle-aged woman, is the sole breadwinner for her family of 10. She is concerned that the new morality law will erode the few rights that women still have.
The Taliban has allowed some women, primarily in the health and education sectors, to work outside their homes.
“I fear that Afghan women will no longer be able to go to their jobs,” Adela, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi.
Dilawar, a resident of the capital, Kabul, warned of a public backlash if the Taliban intensified the enforcement of its widely detested restrictions.
“The youth are suffering from extreme unemployment. Oppressing them…will provoke reactions,” the 26-year-old, whose name was also changed due to security concerns, told Radio Azadi.
Long List Of Restrictions
The new morality law consists of 35 articles, many of which target women.
Women are required to fully cover their faces and bodies when in public and are banned from wearing “transparent, tight, or short” clothing. The law also bans women from raising their voices or singing in public.
Women must also be accompanied by a male chaperone when they leave their homes and cannot use public transport without a male companion.
The law forbids unrelated adult men and women from looking at each other in public.
Men must also dress modestly, even when playing sports or exercising. They are prohibited from shaving or trimming their beards. Men are also compelled to attend prayers as well as fast during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan.
“[Men] should not get haircuts, which violate Islamic Shari’a law,” says one of the articles in the law. “Friendship and helping [non-Muslim] infidels and mimicking their appearance” is prohibited.
Afghans are forbidden from “using or promoting” crossses, neckties, and other symbols deemed to be Western.
Premarital sex and homosexuality are outlawed. Drinking alcohol, the use of illicit drugs, and gambling are considered serious crimes.
Playing or listening to music in public is banned. Meanwhile, the celebration of non-Muslim holidays, including Norouz, the Persian New Year, are also prohibited.
The Taliban’s dreaded morality police are responsible for enforcing the morality law. The force, believed to number several thousand, is overseen by the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.
Under the new law, the powers of the morality police have been expanded.
Members of the force will be deployed across the country to monitor compliance, according to the law. Members of the morality police are instructed to issue warnings to offenders. Repeat offenders can be detained, fined, and even have their property confiscated.
The morality police can detain offenders for up to three days and hand out punishments “deemed appropriate” without a trial.
The Taliban revealed last week that the force detained more than 13,000 Afghans during the past year for violating the extremist group’s morality rules.
‘Hellish Conditions’
The Taliban’s morality law has been widely condemned by Afghans, Western countries, and human rights organizations.
The Taliban has defended the law, which it claims is “firmly rooted in Islamic teachings.”
“This new law is deeply harmful,” said Heather Barr, associate women’s rights director at Human Rights Watch. “It represents a hardening and institutionalization of these rules by giving them the status of law.”
She said the law is a “serious escalation” and “swift slide to ever more hellish conditions for Afghan women and girls.”
Roza Otunbaeva, head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, on August 25 called the law a “distressing vision for Afghanistan’s future” because of the broad powers the Taliban’s morality police will have “to threaten and detain anyone based on broad and sometimes vague lists of infractions.”
Obaidullah Baheer, a lecturer of politics at the American University of Afghanistan, said that parts of the morality law are “extremely vague.”
Yet, the morality police are given broad powers, including to “arbitrarily” punish people without due process, he said.
“[This is] making them the judge, jury, and executioner,” said Baheer.
