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Agence France-Presse

Young, urban women in Afghanistan are increasingly ditching the all-enveloping blue burka with a face mesh that has become a symbol of the Taliban’s oppression of women.
Since their return to power in 2021, the Taliban have imposed their ultra-strict interpretation of Islamic law, modelled on that of their previous rule over the Central Asian country from 1996 to 2001.
But while women must still have their bodies and faces covered, restrictions from the feared religious police do not specifically mention the burka.
So young women are instead following fashions seen in many Gulf nations.


Many prefer a flowing abaya robe, worn with a hijab headscarf and often a face covering as well – sometimes a medical mask, or a Saudi-style cloth niqab veil that exposes only the eyes.
“The new generation would never accept wearing a burka, because of the design and colour,” said 23-year-old Tahmina Adel in the Afghan capital, Kabul.
With social media, “everybody follows the trends”, added Adel, who was forced to quit her economics degree because of the Taliban government’s ban on women’s education.
“I prefer wearing an abaya because I am comfortable in that,” she said.
Young women in Kabul and the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif said that abayas and headscarves offer more freedom of expression than burkas, with a variation in colour, material and pattern.
Showing your face is a sin
Nasima, an Afghan woman in her forties
“Only older women wear a burka,” said Razia Khaliq, as she embroidered one at a workshop in Mazar-i-Sharif.
Khaliq began wearing the billowing head-to-toe burka aged 13, like her mother and grandmother before her.
But her daughter, in her twenties, prefers the abaya.

“Young people wear the abaya because it is more comfortable,” Khaliq said.
The burka has long roots in Afghanistan.
It was strictly enforced during the first Taliban government’s rule over Afghanistan, when women were lashed for failing to wear one in public.
But the abaya and hijab headscarf combination grew in popularity during the time of the foreign-backed government that followed.
When the Taliban recaptured Kabul in 2021, they had promised to be more flexible than during their first rule, when women were deprived of almost all their rights.
I couldn’t see my way, I didn’t know if I was going right or left
Sabrina, a 23-year-old Afghan woman, on wearing a burka for the first time
Instead they have gradually erased Afghan women from public space, imposing what the United Nations has called a “gender apartheid”.
They outlawed the loose headscarves commonly worn by urban women.
Billboards were erected ordering women to once again wear the burka – or an abaya, headscarf and a face covering.
A law in August confirmed restrictions imposed on men and women by the religious police.
It stipulates that, while women can go out “in case of necessity”, they must cover up.
“Whether a burka or hijab, there is no difference,” said Saif ul Islam Khyber, spokesman for the morality police, known officially as the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.

Nasima, in her forties, insisted that “showing your face is a sin”.
But she admitted to sometimes wearing an abaya and headscarf to free her nose and mouth from the “stifling” burka.
Niha, 22, said she was reprimanded for not wearing a burka in public buildings, which are guarded by the Taliban authority’s security forces.
It is common to be asked to readjust the headscarf, or ordered to add a medical mask.
“As soon as we enter offices, we are mistreated,” said Niha, who did not give her surname.

Hayatullah Rafiqi, a specialist in the culture of Afghanistan’s dominant Pashtun tribe, said the burka was “strictly imposed” under the first Taliban government – when some women were “whipped if they did not wear it” – but that “today it is worn less”.
Burkas vary only in colour according to province, from blue to light brown, and green to pink.
Gul Mohammad has been selling burkas in Kabul for 40 years, and said many now come from China – made of nylon rather than cotton, making them cheaper and stronger but less breathable.

“The Chinese burka is very cold in winter, and it is like fire in summer,” said Gul. “This makes the women sweat.”
For Sabrina, 23, from the Taliban’s spiritual cradle, Kandahar, life under a burka is fraught with pitfalls.
She is regularly lectured if she does not wear it.
The first time she wore it was after the Taliban government seized back control in 2021, and it was not her choice.
“I couldn’t see my way, I didn’t know if I was going right or left,” she said. “It was very strange.”


In Afghanistan, young women under Taliban ditch the burka for something ‘more comfortable’

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Young Afghan women wearing niqabs in Kabul. These and hijabs are seen by the new generation as less stifling than the burkas many older women still wear. Photo: AFP

An Afghan woman sews a burka inside her house in Mazar-i-Sharif, in northern Afghanistan. Photo: AFP

An Afghan man shows burkas to a burka-clad woman at his shop in Mazar-i-Sharif. The Taliban’s restrictions do not specifically mention the burka, leading many young women to wear abaya robes and headscarfs that cover less of the face. Photo: AFP

An Afghan woman shops for a burka in Mazar-i-Sharif. Photo: AFP

An Afghan man shows varieties of burkas at his shop in Kandahar. The Taliban have gradually erased women in public space in what the UN calls a “gender apartheid”, despite promising to be more flexible than during their first rule. Photo: AFP

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Women in the Tajik capital of Dushanbe. A manual from the government in 2018 advised women to avoid revealing European clothing, miniskirts, and low necklines. Photo: AFP

Tajik fashion designer Khurshed Sattorov presents traditional garb at his workshop. Authorities are counting on fashion designers to promote traditional garb. Photo: AFP

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People walk along a street in the Tajik capital, Dushanbe. State media have criticised “so-called artists” who wear miniskirts, “imitators” of American style and women wearing the hijab. Photo: AFP

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Craftsman Sakhi makes a Rubab at his workshop in Herat, Afghanistan. Photo: AFP

Made of dried mulberry wood, the rubab is one of the oldest instruments in Central Asia. Photo: AFP

Amateur rubab player Gull Agha with his rubab. Photo: AFP

Sakhi makes another rubab. These days, under the Taliban unaccompanied vocal chants are the only form of music allowed in Afghanistan. Photo: AFP

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Lifestyle

Fashion & Beauty

Tired of burkas that cover the face, urban women under the Taliban’s ‘gender apartheid’ have adopted the abaya robe favoured in Gulf nations


Tired of burkas that cover the face, urban women under the Taliban’s ‘gender apartheid’ have adopted the abaya robe favoured in Gulf nations.


Taliban

Afghanistan

Women and gender