RASC News Agency: In a recent report, “The Telegraph” highlighted the Taliban’s intensifying restrictions on Afghan women, characterizing these actions as an “all-out war” against them. The report references statements by Khalid Hanafi, the Taliban’s Minister for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, who, in a newly released audio recording, proclaimed that an adult woman’s voice should not be audible to another adult woman. Hanafi stated, “Even if a grown woman prays while another woman is nearby, her voice should be so low that the other cannot hear it.”
The article also includes the perspective of an Afghanistani woman who decries Hanafi’s comments as psychological torture. Speaking anonymously, she expressed, “Life in Afghanistan is unbearably painful for us as women. Afghanistan has been abandoned, and because of that, they (The Taliban) are able to suppress us, torment us daily.” She added, “They say we cannot even hear the voices of other women, and I cannot fathom where such views originate.” According to “The Telegraph”, the Taliban’s increasingly severe restrictions have spurred internal dissent within their ranks. A senior Taliban official disclosed that some moderates are growing increasingly frustrated and uneasy with the group’s hardline elements.
In the audio, issued by the Taliban’s Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue, Hanafi further asserts that adult women are prohibited from reciting prayers or chanting in the presence of other adult women. He emphasized that women should refrain from saying “Takbir” (expressions of faith) or praying aloud in the company of other adult women, underscoring the Taliban’s commitment to enforcing its rigid interpretation of moral conduct.
