KABUL, November 6 (IPS) – In Afghanistan, the Taliban are detaining girls, even when they’re carrying a hijab. Activists suspect that the problem of apparel is merely a pretext utilized by the Taliban to search out critics of the regime.
For girls, Kabul is a metropolis of worry. Whether or not they’re heading to the physician, the outlets, or to go to relations, reaching their vacation spot is rarely sure.
They worry checkpoints, the Taliban’s “morality police,” and the chance of being detained for carrying the “flawed” clothes or for missing a male escort.
For a lot of girls, leaving the home is a tough determination. They’re compelled to contemplate what would possibly occur if they’re detained: Will I be capable to return dwelling? And if I do, will I nonetheless maintain the identical place inside my household or group?
In accordance with Amu TV—an Afghan media outlet based mostly in the US—the Taliban’s morality police detained at the very least twenty girls and women within the Taimani neighborhood of Kabul in September.
A few of these detained reported that they had been taken into custody regardless of carrying a hijab in compliance with the principles; in addition they described how the police tore at their clothes through the altercation. Following an in a single day detention, they had been launched solely after their households and native communities paid bail.
Ahmad (identify modified) is a road vendor in Taimani. She describes the arrest:
“I actually don’t perceive what they had been after. All the ladies had been carrying hijabs, but they forcefully grabbed individuals indiscriminately —together with a pregnant girl. Regardless of pleas, she was compelled right into a police car.”
“There have been many different girls current who had been dressed precisely the identical means as those that had been taken, and it was unclear why some had been seized whereas others had been left behind. Folks had been too afraid to ask. The Taliban beat the ladies earlier than taking them away. Who is aware of what they could do to males?”
Even carrying a hijab could not stop arrest
Marzia (identify modified) was detained on June 9 whereas on her approach to a store within the Pul-e-Surkh space. She was accused of being out illegally with out a hijab.
“After they ordered me to get into their car, I refused. They used derogatory language and threatened to power me inside if I didn’t comply with go voluntarily. One other girl was additionally compelled into the car, and we had been taken to a police station.”
“They spoke to us abusively and stated horrible issues. Then, they informed us to summon our male guardians. My father arrived, however nobody listened to him. He introduced different older males from our neighborhood to the scene. They promised to ensure that I might not exit once more with out a hijab,” she recounts.
Marzia’s father needed to pay a high-quality of 15,000 afghanis (roughly 200 euros) as a result of she was not carrying a hijab. Solely then was she allowed to return dwelling.
Marzia said that she was held for about six hours. The Taliban handled her as if she had dedicated a severe crime. “They handled me actually badly. One in every of them stated that it might be proper to kill women like me as a result of we’ve got turned towards Islam. After they demanded my telephone, I informed them it contained private images. One in every of them replied: ‘You seem in public wanting like that—why are you nervous concerning the images?’”
In Marzia’s view, there’s nothing flawed together with her apparel. She was carrying a protracted, loose-fitting coat, a headband protecting her hair, and a face masks. This was not sufficient for the Taliban. They claimed her hijab didn’t present enough protection and that she needs to be carrying a burqa.
Some girls’s rights activists interpret the Taliban’s use of arrests not merely as a deterrent for many who defy gown codes, but in addition as a method to determine girls who’ve criticized them.
Maryam, a feminine activist from Kabul, says that the Taliban are doing every little thing of their energy to trace down girls who had been activists below the earlier authorities—or who stay so immediately.
“These arrests are only a pretext. The Taliban are rooting out girls who converse out towards them. After they arrest girls, they search their telephones. In the event that they discover even the slightest trace of one thing suspicious, solely God is aware of when that girl might be launched.”
Activists additionally notice that fines are getting used as a instrument to curtail girls’s freedom and confine them to their houses. At a time when many households wrestle to safe even one nutritious meal a day, a sum of 15,000 afghanis to safe the discharge of a woman or girl is a gigantic quantity.
In accordance with activists, the worry of arrest and the specter of monetary penalties have led to stricter controls inside households. Some households not enable girls to depart their houses in any respect, whereas others examine the ladies’s apparel earlier than letting them exit.
Girls in Kabul stay in worry that their apparel will not be sufficiently modest by the Taliban’s requirements
The Taliban have defended the arrests of girls over their clothes. Saifuddin Khyber, a consultant for the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Advantage and the Prevention of Vice, confirmed to Amu TV that girls have been detained in Kabul and Herat. He considers the refusal to put on a hijab a severe offense.
In accordance with Khyber, the Taliban view the carrying of a hijab by girls as each a spiritual and a authorized obligation. Muslim girls are required to cowl themselves utterly, from their hair right down to their toenails.
Article 13 of a Taliban regulation printed in 2024 mandates that girls should absolutely cowl their faces and our bodies. The identical article prohibits the carrying of clothes that’s skinny, brief, or tight-fitting.
Article 24 of the regulation grants the Taliban’s morality police the authority to punish those that violate the regulation. Penalties could embody formal steerage, stern reprimands, fines, detention for a couple of days, or different sanctions—all of which could be imposed with out a courtroom listening to.
The Taliban are actively looking for out girls who converse out towards them
In June, girls had been detained in a number of provinces, together with Balkh, Herat, and Takhar. In October 2026, the UN mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, reported that it had obtained data relating to the punishment of at the very least 52 girls in Kabul and Herat between July and September.
In accordance with the UN, the arrests had been prompted by the carrying of colourful headscarves or make-up, showing in public with hair uncovered or with out a concealing chador, or the absence of a male escort.
The Taliban prohibit entry to statistical information, making it tough to acquire exact figures on the variety of girls who’ve been detained.
Worry amongst girls in Kabul persists, whilst a few of those that had been detained are launched. Each time a girl steps outdoors, she have to be ready for the chance that something may occur.
© Inter Press Service (20261106155950) — All Rights Reserved. Unique supply: Inter Press Service
