Taliban orders women to wear all-covering burqa in public, minister defends

Afghanistan's Taliban leadership ordered all Afghan women to wear the all-covering burqa in public, the ministry of vice and virtue said Saturday.

The move evoked similar restrictions on women during the Taliban's previous hard-line rule between 1996 and 2001.

We want our sisters to live with dignity and safety, said Khalid Hanafi, acting minister for the Taliban's vice and virtue ministry.