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Afghanistan: Taliban Says Burqa Not Compulsory For Women, Hijab is

Women were obliged to wear full burqas in public under the Taliban’s strict rule from 1996 to 2001.

According to NDTV, the Taliban issued their first signal since taking control that they would not compel women wear full burqas, as they did during their previous leadership in the country.

Girls’ schools were closed, and women were not allowed to travel or work under the Taliban’s strict 1996-2001 reign. Furthermore, they were obliged to wear a burqa in public.

Suhail Shaheen, a spokesman for the group’s political office in Doha, told Britain’s Sky News, “The burqa is not the only hijab (headscarf) that can be observed; there are many varieties of hijab that are not confined to burqa.”

The burqa is a one-piece overgarment featuring a see-through mesh panel that covers the entire head and torso.

Other types of hijab that the Taliban would approve were not specified by Shaheen.

Aside from issues over clothes, a number of countries and human rights organisations have expressed concern about the fate of women’s education in Afghanistan now that it is in the hands of the hardline militants who stormed Kabul on Sunday.

But Shaheen also wanted to reassure people on this subject.

“Women can acquire an education from elementary school to higher education – that is, university.” This approach has been announced at international forums, including the Moscow conference and the Doha conference (on Afghanistan),” Shaheen added.

Thousands of schools in Taliban-controlled areas were remained open, he noted.

The former Taliban administration implemented the most severe interpretations of sharia, deploying religious police to combat “vice.”

Extreme punishments were meted out by Taliban tribunals, including cutting off thieves’ hands and stoning women guilty of adultery to death.

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