WOMEN lose value if men can see their uncovered faces in public, a Taliban spokesman claimed yesterday as the Islamist movement ruling Afghanistan sought to justify its oppression of women and girls.

The Taliban, which regained control of the country two years ago this month, have cited the failure of women to observe the proper way of wearing the hijab as a reason for barring them from most public spaces and activities, including parks, jobs and universities.

Ministry of Vice and Virtue spokesman Molvi Mohammad Sadiq Akif said that if women’s faces were visible in public, then they could fall into sin.

“A woman has her own value and that value decreases by men looking at her,” he said.

“It is very bad to see women [without the hijab] in some areas, and our scholars also agree that women’s faces should be hidden.”

But Cambridge University Islamic studies lecturer Tim Winter said that there was no scriptural mandate in Islam for face coverings and the Taliban would struggle to find anything supporting its interpretation.

He said the Taliban operates from textbooks used in village religious schools and that Muslim scholars who have visited Afghanistan under Taliban rule, both from 1996 to 2001 and since 2021, have been underwhelmed by their level of religious knowledge.