Soraya, a small business owner in Kabul, never imagined she’d be forced to wear a burqa as the Taliban did during their first term in office in the 1990s.

“It breaks my heart that people in the street were approaching me, asking me to cover my face,” says Soraya.

“Even the tailor I visited told me to cover my face before I could speak to them.”

Women’s faces became the newest restriction on May 7, when Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban announced that, for the first time in decades, women must wear an all-covering veil in public.

Taliban leaders presented the face veil mandate as “advice,” but threatened those who did not comply with a series of escalating punishments.

And when Soraya went shopping in western Kabul this week, she saw something different.

Taliban representatives were present inside women’s clothing stores to monitor what was being sold and whether the length of the custom-made garments was considered proper.

She says, “I was scared.”

Taliban regained power in August 2021, they have issued a series of edicts restricting women’s independence since then.

It includes forbidding them from government jobs, secondary education, and travelling more than 45 miles without a mehram, or male guardian.

The ban on face veils, according to some Afghan women, is only the latest encroachment on their human rights.

Sana lost her job due to the Taliban takeover and is struggling financially.

She says, “It’s like being a woman in Afghanistan is a crime.”

“It doesn’t matter what they choose for me in terms of dress – I am not leaving my house anyway, the situation is hopeless,” she added.