Taliban codify morality laws requiring Afghan women to cover faces, men to grow beards

KABUL: Afghanistan’s Taliban formally codified a long set of rules governing morality this week, ranging from requiring women to cover their faces and men to grow beards to banning car drivers from playing music, the Justice Ministry said.

The rules, promoted as in line with Islamic sharia law and to be enforced by the morality ministry, were based on a decree by the Taliban’s supreme spiritual leader in 2022 and were now officially published as law, a Justice Ministry spokesman said.

The morality ministry, formally called the Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and Propagation of Virtue, has already been enforcing similar morality requirements and says it has detained thousands of people for violations. It was not immediately clear whether publication of the rules would lead to stronger enforcement.

The Taliban’s restrictions on women and freedom of expression have drawn sharp criticism from rights groups and many foreign governments since the former insurgents resumed control of Afghanistan in 2021.

“Day by day, they are trying to erase women from society,” said a 37-year-old housewife in Kabul.