'It's as if we were already dead': Afghan women on the streets to protest against the obligation to wear the burqa

Since the end of March, Afghan women can no longer fly without being accompanied by a man from their family.

Two months after introducing this rule, the Taliban implemented new restrictions on Sunday, May 8.

They require women to cover their faces in public, wearing the burqa outside their homes.

Tired of seeing their rights denied, young Afghan women took to the streets in Kabul on Tuesday, May 10, to protest against this decision.

A demonstration that brought together a dozen of them, faces visible and hair covered by a veil.

Some had placards.

The demonstrators also chanted: “The burqa is not our hijab!

We are women!”, as indicated by France Inter.

"It's as if we were already dead"

“Everyone wants to stay alive, but the restrictions and the pressures they impose on us make our life too difficult,” one of them told French radio.

It's as if we were already dead.

Breathing is all we have left.

We will continue to oppose, nothing can stop us, not even the intimidation of the Taliban because our situation is unacceptable.”

On March 23, the Taliban ordered the closure of schools and colleges for girls in Afghanistan.

They also banned women from politics and certain professions.

Restrictions that the Taliban gradually put in place after they came to power on August 15, 2021.