“We want our ladies to live in dignity and safety”; this was said by Khalid Hanafi, the Taliban’s vice ministry’s acting minister.

On Saturday, Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities issued an order requiring all Afghan women to wear head-to-toe gear in public; confirming rights campaigners’ worst fears and complicating the group’s dealings with an already hostile international community.

Women are only allowed to expose their eyes and are encouraged to wear the head-to-toe burqa, according to the order. Women had similar restrictions during the Taliban’s previous administration, which lasted from 1996 to 2001.

The Taliban previously decided not to reopen schools for girls above the sixth grade; breaking a pledge and choosing to placate their hard-line supporters at the price of further alienating the international world.

This decision hampered the Taliban’s aspirations to gain international legitimacy at a time when the country is facing a rising humanitarian catastrophe.

“All dignified Afghan women must wear Hijab, and the best Hijab is chadori (the head-to-toe burqa), which is part of our culture and respectful,” Shir Mohammad, a vice and virtue ministry employee, said in a statement.

“All women, young and elderly, must cover their faces except their eyes,” he declared.