The Taliban has barred female patients, visitors, and medical staff who do not wear the all-encompassing burqa from entering public hospitals in western Afghanistan, the latest restriction by the hard-line Islamist group targeting women.
The new dress restriction came into force on November 5 in the western city of Herat, the country’s third largest. It is unclear if the measure will be extended nationwide.
International organizations have warned that the move will create further obstacles for women that will impede their access to critical health care.
Since seizing power in 2021, the Taliban has largely erased women from public life and severely impeded their right to work or get an education.
“This is suffocating for us,” a female resident of Herat, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi.
The woman said she was forced to spend the equivalent of around $20 to buy a burqa so she could visit a hospital for treatment. She said members of the Taliban’s dreaded morality police were enforcing the restrictions outside major public hospitals and clinics in the city of some 600,000 people.
Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the Geneva-based charity, said the Taliban’s new restrictions were already leading to fewer women visiting public health facilities in Herat.
“Female patients and caretakers are now barred from entering the hospital unless they wear a burqa, meaning that access to care is determined by clothing rather than medical need,” Sarah Chateau, MSF program manager, said in a statement on November 7.
“Each restriction placed on women as patients translates into delayed or denied medical care. We know that this will have severe consequences for children and mothers who already face enormous barriers to accessing health services in Afghanistan.”
She said the Herat Regional Hospital, one of the city’s largest, has observed a 28 percent drop in admissions of patients in need of urgent care.
Morality Law
In August 2024, the Taliban enacted a morality law that imposed severe restrictions on the appearances, behavior, and movement of women.
Under the law, women are required to fully cover their faces and bodies when in public and are banned from wearing "transparent, tight, or short" clothing.
The enforcement of the extremist group’s laws, however, has been sporadic and uneven across the country and often left to the discretion of local Taliban leaders.
Many Afghan women wear a hijab, or Islamic headscarf, which covers the head and neck. In addition, some women wear a face mask to conceal their nose and mouth.
Other women don the burqa or an Islamic abaya robe and niqab that covers the hair, body, and most of the face. The latter is common in the Arab Gulf states.
Afghan women, especially those in urban areas, consider the burqa and niqab to be alien to Afghan culture. Before the Taliban’s return to power, many women wore loose headscarves that only concealed their hair.
Saiful Islam Khyber, a spokesman for the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, said all Afghan women were required to cover their bodies from head to toe.
In Herat, a multiethnic city with strong cultural influences from neighboring Iran, the burqa has been enforced in many public places, including government offices, over the past year.
Women complain of harassment and violence if they go outside their homes without a burqa.
“I was threatened with arrest,” said a female resident of Herat who spoke on condition of anonymity. “The Taliban told me they will send my husband to prison if I fail to wear a burqa.”
Another woman in Herat said members of the Taliban’s morality police were forcing women to buy burqas in shops and markets in the city.
“It is an impossible situation for me because I’m not used to wearing a burqa,” she said.
Written by Abubakar Siddique based on reporting by Firuza Azizi of RFE/RL's Radio Azadi
