The head of the Islamic Emirate’s Qatar-based political office, Suhail Shaheen, said Afghan women have been using hijab for centuries and the statement which was recently made by the Islamic Emirate “doesn’t say Burqa imposed” as the only type of hijab and that other types of hijab could also be used.  

He made the remarks in an interview with Piers Morgan of Talk TV.  

Earlier, a decree announced by the Ministry of Vice and Virtue stated a new ruling for women’s hijab in the country.  

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Vice and Virtue’s spokesman Akif Mahajar said the recent ruling on hijab not only includes “burqas” but the hijabs used in other Islamic countries (Arabic hijab). Also, the long veils used in rural areas of Afghanistan are also considered hijab, irrespective of color. 

“The Afghan women for centuries, they have been observing hijab and they are wearing hijab voluntarily. So, there is no addition ... on them, and the statement doesn’t say burqa is imposed or the only type of hijab, it says there are different types of hijabs which are acceptable including burqa,” Shaheen said.  

Meanwhile, a number of women in the western province of Herat in a statement called on the Islamic Emirate to reconsider the decision about the rulings on women’s hijab.  

“The Afghan women are Muslims, and they observe the Islamic hijab. I hope the Islamic Emirate mulls over the decree which it has recently given about the Afghan women,” said Fatima Farahi, a female rights activist.  

The UN special envoy for Afghanistan, Deborah Lyons, met with the Islamic Emirate leadership and called for expansion of women rights.   

Lyons met this “week with Taliban leadership and called for women’s rights to be expanded not curtailed, for secondary schools to reopen to girls, and for women to be able to fully participate in work and public life. Afghanistan needs an inclusive effort for challenges ahead,” UNAMA News said.  

This comes as a senior member of the Islamic Emirate, Anas Haqqani, told a gathering in Kabul on Tuesday that "in the name of Propagation of Virtue & the Prevention of Vice, we should not cause people to hate Islam, but we should take care of the people in the way we sacrificed for them before.”