Women complain about the Taliban’s restrictions in Bamyan

By: Somaya Mandgar

Bamyan was one of the most liberal cities of Afghanistan before the Taliban’s takeover. Thousands of young women went to schools and universities, and worked in public and private offices. Women were more visible in the streets, and went to coffee shops and restaurants, wearing jeans shirts, and small scarves.

Soon after they seized power one year ago, the Taliban’s started imposing a strict mandatory hijab code on women across Afghanistan. Women have to wear burqa or niqab, both of which cover from head-to-toe, when they leave home. Putting on colorful clothes in public has been prohibited.

The Taliban have often used force to impose compulsory hijab in Kabul and elsewhere in the country.

In Bamyan, however, the new rulers had so far largely avoided forcing women to adhere to their strict hijab regulations, chose a relatively softer approach of encouragement and persuasion.

But that has changed recently.

Women said the Taliban have started stopping and scolding women at checkpoints for not wearing burqa or niqab, or wearing colorful clothes. The Taliban sometimes aren’t allowing women, who don’t observe proper hijab, to go markets or educational centers, ordering them to stay at home or wear burqas or niqab in public.

Atifa, a 26-year-old English teacher in Bamyan, said she has received three warnings about her clothing in one week.

“The truth is that the Taliban’s restrictions and the group’s crackdown have disrupted my normal life,” she said.

Atifa said she used to wear comfortable and colorful clothes and would roam around the city freely with her friends before the Taliban, but now she feels she lives in a prison.

“The Taliban members stopped our car when I was going to market a few days ago,” she added. “They told the driver ‘drop these unveiled women from where you picked them up.’”

Farangis, another young woman in Bamyan, said passing through Taliban checkpoints have become increasingly difficult for women like her.

“They stopped me this morning asking why I wore a bright-colored outfit, and why my dress had no button in the front,” she said.

Farangis said her friends have been turned around from the markets by the Taliban fighters because they didn’t wear niqab or burqas. Some of her friends have been borrowing burqas from others when they leave home.

The Taliban have established a commission of local elders who work closely with their government on different issues including imposing hijab on women in Bamyan.

Abdullah Sarhadi, the Taliban’s governor for Bamyan, complained to the commission recently that his government dealt softly regarding the hijab issue to give time for Bamyan women to “reform” by themselves but that has not been the case, according to a source who is a member of the commission and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

“What is the solution?” Sarhadi asked, according to him.

Some members of the commission proposed a harsh punishment. “Flog a few unveiled women in public, others will reform themselves.”

Women who don’t cover from head-to-toe are considered “unveiled” by the Taliban.

Another local elder, who is also a member of the commission warned the recent crackdown on women was just the beginning.

“The Taliban have been very tolerant with the people of Bamyan,” he said.

Some local clerics were against the freedoms women enjoyed during the two decades of democracy in Bamyan. They often criticized the former government for giving women too much liberty. These clerics, however, couldn’t take any unilateral action to impose restrictions on women because they didn’t have the support of the local residents and government.

But now they have found an ally in power. The Taliban have deprived women of their most basic rights, turning Afghanistan into the most misogynistic regime in the world.

And hardline clerics are working closely with the Taliban to achieve their goal of removing Bamyan women from society and confining them to their homes — like most part of the country.

The recent crackdown on women’s rights has heightened fear in Bamyan where women said they don’t feel safe walking in the streets anymore, even if they wear the Taliban’s favorite hijab.

“Every minute, I worry that Taliban may tell me something or stop me,” said, Mahleqa, a woman in Bamyan, “And this worry don’t leave my mind even for one moment.”

The names of women have been changed due to security reasons.