Some women in Afghanistan are resisting an order from the ruling Taliban to wear the all-covering burka in public as rights continued to be threatened in the country.
The Taliban on Saturday announced the decree from supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada that all women should where the chadori — a head-to-toe cloak — because it is "traditional and respectful".
It was a major blow to the rights of women in Afghanistan, who for two decades had been living with relative freedom before the Taliban takeover last August — when the US and other foreign forces, including Australia, withdrew in the chaotic end to a 20-year war.
But not all Afghan women are wanting to obey the latest order.
Arooza, who asked to be referred to by that name for protection, said she was furious, afraid and alert for Taliban on patrol as she and a friend shopped on Sunday in Kabul's Macroyan neighbourhood.
The mathematics teacher was fearful her large shawl, wrapped tight around her head and sweeping pale brown coat would not satisfy the order because her face was visible.
Arooza said the Taliban rulers were driving Afghans to leave their country.
"Why should I stay here if they don't want to give us our human rights? We are human," she said.
In the Afghan capital of Kabul on Sunday, women wore the customary conservative Muslim dress.
Most wore a traditional hijab, consisting of a headscarf and long robe or coat, but few covered their faces, as directed by the Taliban leader a day earlier.
Those wearing a burka, a head-to-toe garment that covers the face and hides the eyes behind netting, were in the minority.
Shabana is another Afghan woman furious with the order from the Taliban.
Wearing bright gold bangles beneath her flowing black coat, with her hair hidden behind a black headscarf with sequins, she said the Taliban were not interested in tradition.
"Women in Afghanistan wear the hijab, and many wear the burka, but this isn't about hijab, this is about the Taliban wanting to make all women disappear," she said.
Obaidullah Baheer, a former lecturer at the American University in Afghanistan said these decisions could have consequences for the ruling Taliban.
"These edicts attempt to erase a whole gender and generation of Afghans who grew up dreaming of a better world," Mr Baheer said.
"It pushes families to leave the country by any means necessary.
"It also fuels grievances that would eventually spill over into large-scale mobilisation against the Taliban."
After decades of war, Mr Baheer said it would not have taken much on the Taliban's part to make Afghans content with their rule, "an opportunity that the Taliban are wasting fast".
The Taliban have made several orders that hark back to their previous rule from 1996 to 2001.
An order from Mr Akhundzada in March ahead of the school year banned girls from attending school beyond grade six.
In the weeks ahead of the start of the school year, senior Taliban officials had told journalists all girls would be allowed back in school.
But Mr Akhunzada asserted that allowing the older girls back to school violated Islamic principles.
In December, the Taliban issued another decree barring women from travelling without a close male relative as a chaperone.
"Women travelling for more than 45 miles (72 kilometres) should not be offered a ride if they are not accompanied by a close family member," ministry spokesman Sadeq Akif Muhaji said at the time.
AP/ABC
