The last few days there have been reports in the international press about the Taliban encouraging women in Afghanistan to wear, when in public, an abaya and a niqab, rather than the all-covering burqa which they imposed upon women when they were in power before, between 1994 and 2001. Well, that has certainly got some interesting implications!

Group of Afghan women wearing their 'blue burqa.' Photograph by A. Majeed, AFP.

What the Taliban in Afghanistan are now advocating is the wearing of the so-called 'black burqa', which is the relatively modern name for a three-piece set of clothes consisting of a coat-like garment with sleeves (the abaya), a shawl around the head, and a face veil (niqab) that only reveals the eyes. So what is happening? Why this change?

The traditional all-enveloping, one-piece burqa with a grid in front of the eyes was worn in Afghanistan, and in particular among the urban Pashtun elite, since the late 19th century. It is also widely used among the Pashtuns living on the other side of the border, in Pakistan.

By itself this garment developed out of two traditions, namely on the one hand the Iranian chador (a large rectangular or semi-circular piece of cloth covering the head and body, but not the face) that was worn with a separate ruband (face veil) with a grid in front of the eyes, and on the other hand the burqa of the Indian subcontinent, which is a one-piece garment that covers the body, the head and the face, but leaves the eyes free. The resulting burqa as it is worn today in Afghanistan and large parts of Pakistan is a one-piece garment that covers the face and has a grid in front of the eyes.

Group of Saoudi women wearing an abaya and a niqab. Photograph by Fayez Nuraldine, AFP.

In the Indian subcontinent the one-piece burqa is known from the late sixteenth century onwards, but probably is much older. In Iran, the chador plus ruband have been worn by women for centuries, right until the early 20th century. The Iranian and Indian clothing traditions thus came together in the Afghan burqa, which combines aspects of both the Iranian and Indian worlds. This also explains the two names of the garment in Afghanistan: in general, it is called a chadari by the Persian speaking groups, and burqa by Pashto speakers. For the Pashtuns, along both sides of the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, the garment is universally worn by the women from conservative households. The Taliban in the 1990s, most of whom were Pashtuns, were emphatic in forcing women in Afghanistan to wear the combined burqa/chadari, often blue in colour.

But now something surprising: Taliban leadership, if we follow the news reports, have stated that female students and others in Afghanistan should wear, when outside, a niqab with an abaya. They clearly refer to what in neighbouring Pakistan came to be known as the 'black burqa', a set of three separate garments, black in colour, and all three clearly inspired by traditional Muslim wear for women in Arabian countries.

Burqa/chadari from Afghanistan, 1990s (TRC 2008.0234).This set of garments was introduced in Pashtun dominated Peshawar (northern Pakistan) and surroundings by the mid-1980s when men and women from Arabian countries, among whom Osama bin Laden, flocked to Pakistan to help the Mujahedin in Afghanistan to resist the communist regime and their Soviet supporters. It soon attracted the attention of local Pashtuns, and (young) women donned the set of garments which still covered the full body, but without seriously impeding their vision because the eyes were left free. The set is also much easier to wear, cut differently from the burqa/chadari, often fastened in front, and it does not flutter in the wind.

Yet, wearing this 'Arab' style of garments met opposition from among the more traditional Pashtuns. and many young women were forbidden to wear the set and were gently asked to wear the combined burqa/chadari, or what some called the ‘blue burqa’. Furthermore, the abaya/nikab combination, being very Arabian, will be regarded with deep distaste by the Iranians, the traditional opponents of the Arabs.

So what is the context? The Taliban are generally regarded as being closely linked to traditional Pashtun society. So why are they propagating a non-Pashtun set of clothing for women? A dangerous decision? The Taliban are led by Islamic clergy, the mullahs, who for many years, until the 1980s, had been pushed aside by representatives of the Afghan and British Indian/Pakistani state and especially by traditional tribal leaders from among the Pashtuns. Since the rise of the Taliban movement the mullahs are clawing their way back. They are now in power in Afghanistan, and their influence is rising again in Pakistan, often at the cost of traditional elders.

While in the 1990s the mullahs could still be regarded as hillbillies without much knowledge of the outside world, they now have become far more sophisticated. They are no longer the inward looking, Afghan/Pashtun movement led by mullahs of 25 years ago, but they have become an organisation that is fully aware of the outside world. Their leaders have been fêted by authorities all over the world, in Russia, China, Iran, the Persian Gulf, etc.

"Ladies of Caubul”. Coloured lithograph after James Rattray. Plate XXIV in Rattray 1847/1847. The lady in front is wearing indoor, Iranian style clothing, while the woman at the back is wearing a chador with a separate ruband.They are aware that their organisation needs to expand among other ethnic groups in Afghanistan and beyond in order to gain and retain legitimacy. Their use of social media, especially in English, is directed towards a global audience. So perhaps their push for women to wear an abaya and a niqab, very different from the traditional Pashtun burqa, but worn not only in the Middle East, but also among Muslim groups in Europe and America, is another sign that the Taliban leaders want to build a broader image, perhaps even appealing to (young) Muslims elsewhere in the world. When will the first young Muslim woman from Bradford depart on the Muslim hippie trail to don the niqab and abaya in Kandahar?

However, by stimulating Pashtun women to wear garments that are generally alien to their society, the Taliban mullahs may run into problems in their own backyard. For traditional Pashtuns, the honour of their women is closely linked to women’s clothing. We are curious who will win the Battle of the Burqa. 

Gillian and Willem Vogelsang, 7 September 2021

See also the TRC online exhibition Afghan dress.

Other recent TRC blogs about Afghanistan:

4 Sept: Another sartorial make-over for Hamid Karzai?

4 Sept: Not all Afghan waistcoats are Taliban dull