Happy New Year...! (Except for the women in Afghanistan!)

 The Taliban have banned windows in residential buildings to stop women from being seen while they are at home in Afghanistan.

Hibatullah Akhundzada, the leader of the Taliban, ordered that buildings should not have windows looking into places where a woman could be sitting or standing.

The order applies to both new buildings and existing ones, according to a four-clause decree posted on social media site X (formerly Twitter) late on Saturday.

The decree, posted by government spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid on X, states that new buildings should not have windows where you can see “the courtyard, kitchen, neighbour’s well and other places usually used by women”, AFP reports.

“Seeing women working in kitchens, in courtyards or collecting water from wells can lead to obscene acts.”

Heather Barr, the interim deputy director of women’s rights at Human Rights Watch, told The Independent: “People have talked about the Taliban metaphorically erasing women, but increasingly, it is not metaphorical at all.

“They have already ordered that women’s voices shouldn’t be heard in public, and now they are essentially stopping women from even looking out of the window.

“They are stopping women from being seen. They are stopping women from seeing the world. It’s a total annihilation of women’s personhood and it is clearly ongoing. We don’t have any idea where this will end.”

The Taliban, a hardline Islamist group that previously ruled Afghanistan, has blocked women from the workplace, education and public spaces, as well as barring them from taking part in all sports, since seizing power after US and British forces withdrew in 2021.