Afghan female TV presenters ordered to cover faces on air by Taliban

It comes weeks after women were told to wear head-to-toe clothing in public.

Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have ordered all female TV presenters to cover their faces on air.

The country’s biggest media outlet, Tolo news channel, has said the order came in a statement from the Taliban’s Virtue and Vice Ministry - which is tasked with enforcing the group’s rulings.

The statement called the order “final and non-negotiable”, the channel said. The statement was sent to the Moby Group, which owns Tolo and several other TV and radio networks, but is said to apply to all other Afghan media as well. "Yesterday we met with media officials... they accepted our advice very happily," Akif Mahajar, spokesman for the Taliban's Ministry of Vice and Virtue, told Reuters. He said the move would be received well by the people.

Several female news anchors and presenters have shared photos on social media showing themselves with their faces covered with masks as they present programmes.

https://twitter.com/MarziehHamidi/status/1527225438707253248 One prominent Tolo presenter, Yalda Ali, posted a video of herself putting on a face mask, writing: “A woman being erased, on orders from the virtue and vice ministry.” Another local media official confirmed his station had received the order and was told it was not up for discussion. He said the station had no other option. When the Taliban first came into power from 1996 to 2001, it imposed harsh restrictions on Afghanistan's women. Women were not allowed to be educated and had to wear burqas that covered the eyes with mesh. When it regained power in August last year, it appeared to have reconsidered its previous restrictions. However, in recent months, it has backtracked - as feared by rights activists. Earlier this month, it ordered all women to wear head-to-toe clothing in public that leaves only their eyes visible. After initially promising it would not stop girls from getting an education, it later issued a decree barring girls from attending school after the sixth grade.