Is the Taliban of 2021 the same as the Taliban of the 1990s? This is a question that is frequently posed these days. However, we will have to wait a while for a response to this query. However, in retrospect, it appears to be the case. On Tuesday, the Taliban gave the first signal that women will not be required to wear the complete burqa.
This is in stark contrast to their previous rule, which required women to wear full burqas in the 1990s.
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 different types of hijab not limited to the burqa.” He did not, however, clarify which additional styles of hijab would be acceptable to the Taliban.
Another issue that the international community is concerned about is what will happen to women’s education in Afghanistan now that the Taliban has taken control of the country. The Taliban’s spokesman, Suhail Shaheen, has responded.
“Women can get education from primary to higher education that means university. We have announced this policy at international conferences, the Moscow conference and here at the Doha conference (on Afghanistan),” Shaheen said. Thousands of schools in Taliban-controlled areas were remained open, he noted.
Previously, from 1996 and 2001, when the Taliban ruled Afghanistan, girls’ schools were shuttered, women were barred from travelling and working, and women were forced to wear an all-covering burqa in public. The previous Taliban government imposed the most stringent sharia interpretations.
Extreme punishments were meted out by Taliban tribunals, including cutting off thieves’ hands and stoning women guilty of adultery to death.
