KABUL — The Taliban have barred women without burqas from entering shopping malls and government offices in Herat province, local sources said, further tightening restrictions on women’s access to public spaces.
Officials from the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice issued the directive during a meeting with mall and shop owners in Herat, instructing them to refuse entry to any woman not wearing a burqa or an Arabic-style cloak with a face covering, multiple sources told KabulNow.
Shopkeepers were informed the rule would take effect immediately, and inspection teams would be deployed to ensure compliance. Business owners who fail to enforce the dress mandate could face punitive action, the sources added.
The ban is also being enforced across government offices in Herat. Morality police have reportedly turned away women without burqas at the provincial education department, civil registration office, the court and Herat’s regional hospital.
Women told KabulNow they were denied access even while wearing headscarves and long coats. “I had an urgent matter at the court,” said one woman. “I was wearing a coat and headscarf, but the vice and virtue officer told me I could not enter without a Burqa and sent me back.”
Similar measures have been reported in other provinces. In Kandahar, authorities introduced the same requirement two months ago, warning shopkeepers they could be forced to close if they do not comply.
Since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban have steadily rolled back women’s rights, barring most girls and women from secondary and higher education, restricting their work opportunities, limiting travel without a male guardian, and imposing strict dress codes that increasingly mandate full-body coverings and face veils
