KABUL (Reuters). – Saturday’s Taliban decree ruled that Afghan women should cover their faces. This is in response to growing restrictions placed on Afghan women by the government. It has drawn criticism from many Afghans and the international community.

At a Kabul press conference, a spokesperson for the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice read the decree of the group’s supreme leaders Hibatullah Ashundzada. He stated that any woman who did not cover herself outside the house would face visits from her father or nearest male relative.

Their ideal face-covering was the all-encompassing, blue burqa. This became the global symbol of Taliban’s former hardline regime between 1996 and 2001.

Women in Afghanistan usually wear a headscarf to protect their religious beliefs, while many women living in cities like Kabul choose not to cover their faces.

The opposition to the group’s growing rights has been intense, with Western governments leading but being joined by Islamic nations and religious scholars.

Surprise U-turn by the group in March, when they closed girls’ high schools the day before their opening time, drew the attention of international communities and caused the United States cancellations of planned meetings to ease the country’s current financial crisis.

Washington and the United States have cut their development assistance since August. They also imposed severe sanctions on the banks system. This has pushed the country into economic collapse.

Taliban claims it has improved since its last ruling, when it prohibited girls from leaving their home without male relatives and required women to cover their faces.

The administration has increased restrictions placed on women in recent months. These include rules that limit their ability to travel alone and ban them from going into parks with other people.