Picture courtesy of Médecins Sans Frontières

 

The Taliban in Afghanistan have mandated that women wear burkas to enter hospitals in Herat, according to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). This new regulation, effective from 5 November, affects patients, caretakers, and female medical staff. MSF reported a significant decrease in urgent medical admissions, with a 28% drop since the rule's enforcement.

 

The Taliban government, through spokesperson Saif-ul-Islam Khyber, denied forcing women to wear burkas, attributing the order to general hijab practices. Khyber referred to the hijab as a broader dress code rather than the specific burka requirement. However, reports from activists and video footage on social media suggest enforcement of the dress code continues, with Taliban guards at hospital entrances ensuring compliance.

 

MSF claims that these restrictions severely limit women's access to healthcare in Herat. The organization's program manager, Sarah Chateau, highlighted the challenges women face in seeking urgent medical care without adhering to the dress code. The Taliban, who previously enforced the burka during the 1990s, seem to be reinstating similar measures since regaining power in August 2021.

 

The Taliban's broader policies have already seen women barred from many workplaces, schools, and universities. The United Nations has expressed concern over these restrictions, labelling them as "gender apartheid." There are increasing calls for the Taliban to reconsider these measures and allow women better access to vital services.

 

Looking forward, the international community is watching to see if the Taliban will relax these rules following reactions from humanitarian groups and calls for policy changes. The UN suspended operations at the Afghan-Iran border crossing due to restrictions on female staff, highlighting the broader implications of such measures on international operations and assistance in Afghanistan, reported the BBC.

 

 

 

Key Takeaways

 

• Taliban enforces burka mandate for women accessing Herat hospitals.
• MSF reports a 28% decrease in urgent medical admissions.
• UN and activists urge for an end to restrictive gender policies.

 

 

  Adapted by ASEAN Now from BBC 2025-11-12

 

 

Came into this thread assuming it was UK news. My bad

The Burka should only be allowed ln Mulim  countries and any  ban   should curtail  the acceptance of Sharia law. 

Quote

Taliban Enforce Burka Rule for Women Entering Herat Hospitals

 

That's nice. 

 

When you obseve Muslim men in other countries like Asia and  the Uk you may form the opinion the majority  of Muslim males are hypocrits regarding the exploitation of western woman compared to the treatment of their wives in their home country

Maybe the men should wear burkas to hide their arousal with all those alluring women around.

Now...what the UK needs is more of this......

More Vloggers are ending up in Afghanistan. A few stand out.

 

Itchy Boots; a Dutch lady solo traveling around. In this episode she is visiting Bamyam. No one seems in the slightest bothered she is, nor are they bothered she is a woman. She meets plenty of Taliban at checkpoints, particularly in the city. Most of the time they are fairly relaxed; it bureaucratic, but to be fair, no worse than I've experienced in India. The full blue Burqas are seen more in rural areas, and in other episodes, different ethnicities do have their own ress standards that are different from the Pashtun dominated Taliban

 

 

In other episodes, she does explain she has conversations with Afghan women off camera, life is tough.

 

Mike Okay hitchhikes around. He is more blokish, and uses ciggies as a universal way to break the ice. Again, he reveals some surprising things about the Emirate of Afghanistan

 

 

I think the people of Afghanistan should be left alone for a bit, they've been ruined by the Great Powers and their Great Game. Yeah, the Taliban are no boy scouts, but the Afghanistan of 2025 is not the same as the Afghanistan of 2001. It seems to have a functioning economy, with english speaking engineers stuck in little villages running the local pharmacy, proud Hazaaris extolling their education compared to the rest.

 

I guess in 1975, Americans hated the Vietnamese; you lot called them gooks, commies. 50 years on, they are still communists, but you;ve got over yourselves, and best mates with them, going on holidays to peer down tunnels, and gaze at ruined US military equipment in museums.

 

The headlines are about Burqas. The first video includes a sequence through a city, about a month ago. Not that many Burqas and plenty of uniformed Taliban, who probably a few years ago, were in someone else's uniform. Most ladies are wearing Hijabs, not even any Niqabs, which you are going to see a lot of in Saudi Arabia and fashionable parts of Dubai. Thats not to say there aren't places where Burqas are worn more.

 

As for Bamyam, I heard another version. The usual version is the local Taliban commander went all medieval, and ordered idolatory to be destroyed. And indeed that was one justification actually used. But really, it was at the time when there was serious malnutrition, and a completely broken economy. The commander objected to some European archeologists wanting to spend 10s of millions restoring some statues of a long dead civilisation at the expense, as he saw it, of starving children. He thought that immoral, and so ordered the destruction, aided I suppose by what he thought was justification from scripture. Perhaps he was lying, but if he was, that in itself indicates regret. There is talk now, by the Taliban, about some sort of restoration.  It will likely never be done, but archeologists have fixed up worse. England still hasn't fixed the damage tot he Abbeys that Henry VIII did.

 

It seems a beautiful, but tough, country. The Taliban are not one dimensional, and they seem to be mostly people who want to get on with life, albeit a life determined by a little book.

 

The lady in the first video is now in Tajikistan, which also confounding my expectations. Its neighbouring to Afghanistan, but is like chalk and cheese, with Chinese EVs everywhere.

 

Mike Okay is like Bald n Bankrupt but without the Sex Tourist/Incel vibe. Earlier he did an interesting video in that Chinese bit of Laos.