The Taliban authorities in Afghanistan claimed on Saturday that a “woman can talk to another woman”, denying recent reports of such a ban by the Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (PVPV). “A woman can talk to another woman, women must interact with each other in society, women have needs.”Saiful Islam Khyber, spokesperson for the ministry, told AFP.

Recently, articles in the Afghan press in exile and in the international media claimed that the PVPV minister, Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, had forbidden the women to speak to each other, based on an audio recording. This “moronic” and “illogical”retorted Saiful Islam Khyber. These extracts concerned “exceptions”he added, claiming that the minister was referring to the specific case of women praying, urging them not to speak aloud during this moment.

No studying, no singing, no parks…

The UN accuses the Taliban of having instituted a “gender apartheid since their return to power in 2021, gradually driving women out of public spaces. At present, Afghan women can no longer study beyond primary school, go to parks, gyms or beauty salons, or leave their homes without a chaperone.

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A recent law forbids them to sing or declaim poetry, by virtue, like other directives, of an ultra-rigorist application of Islamic law. It also encourages them to “veil” their voices and bodies away from home. Some local radio and TV stations have also stopped broadcasting women’s voices. The Taliban government, for its part, insists that Islamic law “guarantees” the rights of Afghan men and women.