burqa (an ankle-length veil with a mesh-like opening in front of the eyes).Non-religious music, cassette tapes, TV and movies are all banned. Multi-colored signs areprohibited. White socks are forbidden (either because they are considered a sexual lure orbecause they resemble Afghanistan's flag). Children cannot fly kites, play chess or play with thepigeons since it distracts them from their religious studies. Men must wear beards or face prisonuntil their shaven whiskers grow back. Paper bags are banned since the paper might have beenrecycled from old Korans and lower level windows must be blackened to prevent males frominadvertently catching women in compromising states. In order to guarantee that men andwomen observe the new rules, the Taliban have employed a moral police force (Agents for thePreservation of Virtue and Elimination of Vice) to search for violators. The purported brutaltreatment of offenders by the moral police has led Amnesty International to classify the conducta "reign of terror."Prior to the Civil War and Taliban control, especially in Kabul, the capital, women inAfghanistan were educated and employed: 50% of the students and 60% of the teachers atKabul University were women, and 70% of school teachers, 50% of civilian government workers,and 40% of doctors in Kabul were women. Some examples of gender apartheid follow:A woman who dared to defy Taliban orders by running a home school for girls wasshot and killed in front of her husband, daughter, and students. A woman caught trying to flee Afghanistan with a man not related to her was stoned todeath for adultery. An elderly woman was brutally beaten with a metal cable until her leg was brokenbecause her ankle was accidentally showing from underneath her burqa. Women have died of treatable ailments because male doctors were not allowed totreat them. Many women, now forcibly housebound, have attempted suicide by swallowinghousehold cleaner, rather than continuing to l...
