A country that closes itself, day after day. The supreme leader of the Taliban, according to a press release published Saturday evening, ordered to obstruct and no longer build windows that overlook residential spaces occupied by Afghan women, believing that this could lead to “obscenity” .
According to this press release published by the spokesperson for the Taliban government, it will now be necessary, in the event of the construction of a new building, that it be devoid of windows through which it is possible to see up close “the courtyard, the kitchen, the neighbors’ well and other places usually used by women.”
“Seeing women working in kitchens, in courtyards or collecting water from wells can lead to obscene acts,” says the document released by Zabihullah Mujahid on X, partly written in Arabic, Dari and pashto.
The town hall and other relevant services will have to monitor construction sites to ensure that it is not possible to see into neighbors' homes, the text continues. In the event that such facing windows exist, owners are invited to build a wall or obstruct the view, “to avoid nuisance caused to neighbors”, indicates the decree.
Since the return of the Taliban to power in August 2021, women have gradually been driven out of public space, prompting the UN to denounce “gender apartheid”. Currently, Afghan women can no longer study beyond primary school, go to parks, gyms, beauty salons, or almost leave their homes without a chaperone.
A recent law prohibits them from singing or declaiming poetry, under, like other directives, an ultra-rigorous application of Islamic law. It also encourages them to “veil” their voices and their bodies outside their homes. Some local radio and television stations have also stopped broadcasting female voices.
The Taliban government assures that Islamic law “guarantees” the rights of Afghans.
