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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Code Imposed, Head To Toe

Associated Press

The women float through the noisy streets and markets like brightly colored phantoms, hidden from head to toe by the billowing folds of the burqa, the all-enveloping garment that Kabul’s new government requires them to wear.

Their vision of the world is confined to what they can see through the garment’s small mesh openings around the eyes. Peripheral vision is bad, making it even more dangerous to move through the reckless traffic of the capital.

The Taliban religious army has declared it mandatory, under Islamic law, for women to wear a burqa whenever they go outside. The garment hides a woman’s identity and masks her expression - including the anger she might feel at having to wear it.

“When I put on the burqa and looked in the mirror, I understood what it was the Taliban wanted: for me to realize that I am a woman and that I really don’t have a life,” said 23-year-old Rana, who still works on the sly for an international agency, even though the Taliban has banned women from the work force and girls from attending school.

The traditional Islamic head scarf is not enough for the religious army that seized Kabul last month. The Taliban say Islam demands that women stay home, and if they insist on going out, they must be hidden. That means wearing a burqa.

When Lailuma Mohammad takes off her burqa at home, she gladly sheds her anonymity. She suddenly emerges a 25-year-old with dancing olive-green eyes and a broad, quick smile, wearing a loose pink shirt and baggy pink pants.

Her smile fades when she talks about the burqa. “I don’t feel like a real person when I’m wearing one,” said Mohammad, a Kabul University graduate in pharmacology.

Muslim proponents of such coverings claim it enhances the dignity of women, allowing them to be judged on their abilities rather than their appearance. In many Muslim countries, burqas or even headscarves are not required, with the decision left up to the woman.

Whatever its effect on her dignity, the burqa and its mesh eye-holes make it difficult - and dangerous - for Mohammad to move about Kabul with the freedom she used to enjoy. “I kept trying to look over my shoulder for cars, but the burqa made that almost impossible,” she said.

Like many older women in Kabul, Mohammad’s mother has worn a burqa before. She belongs to a more conservative generation of women, who more often completely cover themselves in public.

Still, before the Taliban came to Kabul, less than 20 percent of the women wore burqas. Now, burqa makers are rushing to fill the demand created by the Taliban edict.