As the Taliban begins to implement tough new regulations on women in Afghanistan, they are also turning their attention to a group that was previously under fewer restrictions: Afghan men. Since the Taliban took power three years ago, women have faced an unrelenting series of increasing restrictions on their personal freedoms and dress codes. Contrarily, men in urban areas have been able to conduct their lives without significant disruptions.
Specifically, new restrictive laws enacted in late August require men to wear a fist-length beard, prohibit them from imitating non-Muslims in appearance or behavior and ban haircuts contrary to Islamic law, which essentially means short or Western styles. Men are also now prohibited from looking at women who are not their wives or relatives.
These first major restrictions affecting men have come as a shock to many in Afghanistan, according to a vast number of Afghans, including Taliban objectors, hesitant supporters, and even members of the Taliban regime, who have spoken in phone interviews over the past two weeks.
“If the men had raised their voices, maybe we would be in a different situation now,” said a man who lives in the capital Kabul, “Now everyone grows a beard because they don’t want to be questioned, humiliated,” he then added.
The new laws authorize the morality police to detain suspects for up to three days. In more serious cases, for example repeated failure to attend mosque prayers, the suspects can be referred to the courts to be prosecuted and sentenced according to their interpretation of the Islamic Sharia law. As a result, infractions of these rules can result in fines or prison sentences. However, those convicted of certain offenses, such as adultery, may face harsher penalties, including whipping or death by lapidation.
According to Western officials and Afghan critics of the regime, these constraints appear to indicate a notable shift in the Taliban’s internal power dynamics, with more conservative factions gaining influence or trying to assert themselves more forcefully in urban areas.
In addition, new restrictions have been imposed also to women, which include the prohibition of raising their voices, reciting the Quran in public, and looking at men other than their husbands or relatives. Women must also cover the lower half of their faces, in addition to the head covering they already had to wear.
For the past three years, Afghan women have often felt alone in their anxiety, and several of them have expressed a desire that their protests will soon be joined by Afghan men. Still others have serious doubts that such protests will actually lead to any change.
In the interviews that were conducted among the residents, it clearly emerged that many of them intend to leave Kabul in search of new hope and more prosperous horizons.
