Taliban orders Afghan women to cover their faces again

Afghanistan’s Taliban government, on May 7, 2022, ordered women to wear head-to-toe clothing in public. According to the organisation’s decree, women are only allowed to leave their homes “when necessary” and male relatives face penalties, ranging from dismissal from a state job to imprisonment, if a woman violates the dress code. Since taking power last August, the Taliban had promised a softer rule than its last stint in power between 1996 and 2001. But instead, Taliban officials have been increasingly restricting the rights of girls and women.