MTI quoted the Associated Press as saying that the bags were placed on the heads of mannequins in clothing stores in Afghanistan because, according to the Taliban, the dolls fall into the category of human images prohibited by Islam. The scene has been described as bizarre.
And in January, the radicals demanded that the shop owners take off the heads of the mannequins in several places, and in the end they only officially ordered that the heads be covered.
Sellers said the base made the mannequins look ugly, and partly attributed the drop in traffic to this. Compliance with the rules is checked regularly by officials in the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
Although Afghanistan has drifted to the brink of a humanitarian crisis since the Taliban seized power in 2021, many business owners believe the wealthiest are unwilling to enter a store whose storefront is often adorned with mannequins covered in black bags.
At the same time, many consider the fact that the dolls were kept as resistance to the Taliban and argue that the mannequins are used throughout the Islamic world.
Everyone knows that they are not idols, and no one will bow down to them.
explained one of the sellers.
Business owners who can do this wrap their heads in fancy scarves, but that doesn’t fill many passers-by with peace of mind either. “When I look at them, I feel they are also surrounded and I feel afraid,” said one woman who gave only Rahima’s name. “As if I see myself in the shop window, an Afghan woman deprived of all her rights.”
After the Taliban came to power, women were removed from almost all areas of public life. They recently forbade them to go to university again, despite some concessions already made in February last year. Women were banned from swimming pools, gyms, and even amusement parks.
