Several women and girls in Kunduz province report being distressed by the harassing behavior of the Taliban morality police. According to them, members of this group interrogate women and girls while shopping in stores and on the streets in the name of promoting virtue and preventing vice. These women find the behavior of the Taliban disturbing and emphasize that the continuation of this situation has adversely affected their mental and emotional well-being.
Many girls and women in Kunduz state that Taliban morality police patrol women’s clothing markets, and shops frequented by women, as well as areas around restaurants and dairy shops, causing inconvenience to them.
Despite restrictions on women and girls, they feel uneasy during shopping or leisure due to the presence of Taliban morality police, who are omnipresent in the city and subject them to unwarranted questioning.
Taliban morality police patrol Kunduz City in groups from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., creating significant obstacles for women.
A reporter from the Hasht-e Subh Daily has continuously monitored and observed this situation over the past three weeks. His observations indicate that Taliban morality police are mostly present in markets such as Nasiri, Saray-e Shali, Saray-e Chaplak, restaurants, and other places frequented by women.
Meanwhile, some women and girls state that Taliban morality police inspect women’s veils and masks. If they disapprove of the veil and mask, they warn them not to leave the house with clothing that does not meet the group’s preferences and not to go to the city.
Nelab, a girl in Kunduz, says, “I go to the city less often because I’m afraid they’ll ask why I came alone. Once they told me why I didn’t come with a male relative, wear proper clothes, and even took my father’s contact number and called to prevent me from going to the city alone.”
Nelab adds that she has three sisters but no brother, so she always goes to the city alone. She emphasizes that she is forced to go to the city to buy her basic needs but the threats and warnings of Taliban morality police have made her worried and anxious.
This is not only the problem of one woman and one girl. Several other girls also say they detest the scrutinizing looks of morality police as they inspect women from head to toe to ensure that feminine body contours are not provocative to men.
Palwasha also says that no one at home has told her how to dress or shop yet, but now she cannot buy clothes according to her desires because wearing a mask and a black complementary veil in the sun’s heat is distressing and makes her feel suffocated.
Tamanna, another woman, says, “I go to the city wearing modest clothing, but once I had a belt over my dress. A morality policeman approached and said, ‘Sister, you should leave your clothing loose and not wear a belt so that neither you nor others become tainted by sin.'”
Some residents and shopkeepers in Kunduz City say it’s not just women who complain about the behavior of morality police. Several times, when a morality policeman enters a shop where women are busy shopping, the women leave the shop without buying anything.
Taliban morality police react harshly when they see girls or women without masks talking to male shopkeepers. Although the exact number of Taliban morality police in Kunduz City is unknown, they patrol in groups of three to four throughout the city every day.
This is while women and girls in Kunduz say they were more veiled during the previous government’s rule.
It is worth mentioning that nearly two months ago, some hair saloons closed their shops and protested against the excessive harassment by morality police in Kunduz province.
You can read the Persian version of this daily report here:
امر به معروف و نهی از منکر طالبان در کندز زنان را به ستوه آورده است | روزنامه ۸صبح