Taliban Divided as New Leaders Force Women to Cover Bodies

The Taliban government in Afghanistan has issued a new order requiring women to cover themselves fully¹ whenever in public.

Taliban leader, Hibaitullah Akhunzada, made the announcement Saturday. He said women must not leave their homes without wearing a burqa. The traditional clothing covers a woman from head to toe, leaving only her eyes visible.

The new restriction² comes after more than 20 years of freedom from burqas. In 2001, the United States attacked Afghanistan and ousted³ its former Taliban government. In the period that followed, women gained many rights, including access to education, work in government and the freedom to wear modern clothing.

When the U.S. finally withdrew its forces from Afghanistan last year, the Taliban took control of the country once again. It promised to honor some of the freedoms that women had gained since 2001. That included permission to reject burqas.

Now, that is gone. And it follows other repressive actions toward Afghan females. In March, Akhunzada announced a major change in education policy. He barred females from attending school past sixth grade. He said to permit them more education would violate Islamic law.

However, other members of the Taliban want a more modern leadership. They say without it, Western governments will not work with Afghanistan or provide financial help to the country. The economic support is of high importance as Afghanistan is extremely poor and suffering a food crisis.

Torek Farhadi is a former Afghan government adviser⁴. He said Taliban leaders are disagreeing, but not publicly, because they do not want to show any weakness in government. He said the leaders do not "see eye to eye" but they decided⁵ to "put up with each other" out of a concern that the government might fall apart.

Some leaders are working to find a way to permit older girls to go back to school. A representative of the Haqqani network, a powerful group within Afghanistan, said the problem of girls returning to school would soon be "resolved."

In the Afghan capital of Kabul on Sunday, women were seen in customary conservative Muslim clothing. Most wore a traditional hijab, a cover for their hair, but few covered their faces, as directed by the Taliban leader a day earlier. Those wearing a burqa, which covers the face and hides the eyes behind netting, were in the minority.

"Women in Afghanistan wear the hijab, and many wear the burqa, but this isn't about hijab, this is about the Taliban wanting to make all women disappear," said one woman who called herself Shabana. She was wearing a hijab and a long coat.

Another woman, Arooza, said the Taliban will push many Afghans out of their country. "Why should I stay here if they don't want to give us our human rights? We are human," she said.

Obaidullah Baheer is a visiting scholar at the New School in New York. He agreed with the women.

He said the new rules are an attempt to "erase⁶ a whole gender⁷ and generation of Afghans who grew up dreaming of a better world." The restrictiveness may lead to rebellion against the Taliban.

When the Taliban took over, Baheer said, it would not have taken much to satisfy most Afghans. But the group is quickly wasting its chance to gain support, he said.

Words in This Story

visible – n. able to be seen

modern –adj. reflecting the current times and ideas

netting – n. a fine material woven together to cover an opening

scholar – n. a person who has studied a subject for a long time

erase – v. to wipe away evidence or history of something

1 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

2 restriction   

n.限制，约束

参考例句：

• The park is open to the public without restriction.这个公园对公众开放，没有任何限制。
• The 30 mph speed restriction applies in all built-up areas.每小时限速30英里适用于所有建筑物聚集区。

3 ousted   

驱逐( oust的过去式和过去分词 )； 革职； 罢黜； 剥夺

参考例句：

• He was ousted as chairman. 他的主席职务被革除了。
• He may be ousted by a military takeover. 他可能在一场军事接管中被赶下台。

4 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

5 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

6 erase   

v.擦掉；消除某事物的痕迹

参考例句：

• He tried to erase the idea from his mind.他试图从头脑中抹掉这个想法。
• Please erase my name from the list.请把我的名字从名单上擦去。

7 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。