KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Taliban Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada has issued a new decree regulating window placement in buildings, ordering that women must not be visible from neighboring homes while cooking, sitting, or standing.
The five-point decree, announced Saturday, December 29, by the Taliban’s Administrative Affairs Office on X (formerly Twitter), outlines strict measures to ensure women’s privacy.
According to the first article, any new building constructed within a pathway’s distance of another structure cannot have windows facing the neighbor’s kitchen, water well, or any area where women are commonly present.
The second article requires property owners with existing windows overlooking a neighbor’s home to build a wall or take other steps to eliminate the perceived “harm” to neighbors.
Municipalities and other Taliban-controlled bodies are tasked with enforcing these regulations and ensuring that no new windows violate them.
Since reclaiming power in Afghanistan, the Taliban have imposed sweeping restrictions on citizens, particularly targeting women. Women have been effectively excluded from most public spheres.
The latest decree aligns with a broader set of morality laws enacted in August, granting the Taliban’s morality police expanded powers to enforce draconian restrictions on personal freedoms.
Under Akhundzada’s leadership, more than 100 edicts have systematically stripped women of their rights. These include bans on girls’ education beyond the sixth grade, prohibition of women’s higher education and employment—including at UN agencies—and restrictions on access to public spaces such as parks, gyms, beauty salons, and restaurants.
The United Nations has condemned these policies as a form of “gender apartheid,” underscoring the growing isolation and suffering of women and girls under Taliban rule.
