The journalists of the main Afghan television networks have decided to show themselves on TV with their faces uncovered, challenging the injunction of the Taliban government according to which by today they should, like all women in the country, also cover their faces and no longer just their heads with a foulard. At the beginning of May, the supreme leader of the Taliban established by law the obligation for women to cover themselves completely in public, possibly with the traditional burka, while until now it was enough for them to cover their hair. The ministry for the promotion of virtue and the prevention of vice had ordered that women who appear on television also comply with this obligation by today; but the journalists of the channels TOLOnews, Shamshad TV and 1TV instead appeared on the screen, live, with their faces uncovered.
“Our colleagues fear that if they cover their faces, the next thing that will be decided will be to ban them from working,” explained Shanshad TV director Abid Ehsas. “That is why they have not obeyed the new provision so far.” The ministry spokesman threatened to address the issue with their leaders, recalling that “those who live in a particular system and government must obey the laws and orders of this system”. The Taliban has already ruled that women working in the government will be fired if they do not comply with the new dress code, and male employees themselves risk their jobs if their wives or daughters do not obey.