Afghan Taliban Order Female TV Anchors to Cover Their Faces

According to Afghanistan's largest media station, the Taliban overlords have ordered all female TV presenters to conceal their faces on television.

According to the TOLOnews channel on Twitter, the order came in a statement from the Taliban's Virtue and Vice Ministry, which is in charge of executing the group's judgments, as well as the Information and Culture Ministry.

The directive was described as "final and non-negotiable" in the statement, according to the broadcaster.

The statement was issued to the Moby Group, which owns TOLOnews and several other TV and radio networks, as well as other Afghan media, according to the tweet.

Several female broadcasters and presenters took to social media to share photographs of themselves wearing face masks while presenting shows. Yalda Ali, a well-known TOLO host, tweeted a video of herself wearing a face mask with the caption "a lady being erased, under orders from the Virtue and Vice Ministry."

On one station, Shamshad TV, the directive was implemented in a muddled manner: one female anchor wore a face mask on Thursday, but another later in the day did not, revealing her face.

During the Taliban's first term in office, from 1996 to 2001, they imposed severe restrictions on women, ordering them to wear the all-encompassing burqa and prohibiting them from participating in public life or receiving an education.

The Taliban first appeared to have softened its restrictions after retaking control in Afghanistan in August, establishing no clothing code for women. However, in recent weeks, they have made a sudden, hard-line pivot, confirming rights groups' worst worries.

The Taliban ordered all women in public to wear head-to-toe clothes with only their eyes showing earlier this month. The edict said that women should only leave the house when absolutely necessary, and that male relatives would be punished for violating the dress code, beginning with a summons and progressing to court hearings and jail time.

In addition, the Taliban leader issued a directive prohibiting girls from attending school after sixth grade, reversing previous Taliban promises that girls of all ages would be permitted to attend school.