A statement from the United Nations Human Rights Office said the legislation announced last week silences women’s voices, deprives them of their individual autonomy, and attempts to turn them into “faceless, voiceless shadows”.

The agency called the Taliban’s announcement “absolutely intolerable” in addition to other prohibitions such as access to education for girls over the age of 12 or the practice of teaching for females.

“The Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice law recently adopted by Afghanistan’s de facto authorities consolidates policies that completely erase the presence of women in public,” the office said.

Meanwhile, UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs Rosemary DiCarlo warned that the policy further delays the Taliban’s eventual insertion into the global arena.

Di Carlo, who chaired the latest round of talks with the de facto Afghan authorities in Doha, Qatar, insisted that if maintained, the decree will only impede Afghanistan’s return to the international arena.

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