Rina Amiri, the United States special envoy for Afghan women, girls, and human rights, posted on social media late Tuesday that she raised concerns about the law during her recent meetings with counterparts in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

“My message was clear: Our support for the Afghan people remains steadfast, but patience with the Taliban is running out,” Amiri wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “The way to legitimacy domestically & internationally is respecting the rights of the Afghan people.”

The U.S. warning comes days after the Taliban’s supreme leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, enacted the contentious decree that orders Afghan women not to speak aloud in public and cover their bodies and faces entirely when outdoors.

The 114-page, 35-article law also outlines various actions and specific conduct that the Taliban government, called the Islamic Emirate, considers mandatory or prohibited for Afghan men and women in line with its strict interpretation of Islam.

The legal document empowers the Ministry for Promoting Virtue and Preventing Vice, which the Taliban revived after coming back to power in August 2021, to enforce it strictly.

Enforcers are empowered to discipline offenders, and penalties may include anything from a verbal warning to fines to imprisonment. The law requires them to prevent “evils” such as adultery, extramarital sex, lesbianism, taking pictures of living objects and befriending non-Muslims.

Official Taliban media quoted Akhundzada this week as ordering authorities to “rigorously enforce” the new vice and virtue decree across Afghanistan “to bring the people closer to the Islamic system.”

The law was enacted amid extensive restrictions on Afghan women’s education and employment opportunities.

Since regaining power three years ago, the Taliban have prohibited girls ages 12 and older from continuing their education beyond the sixth grade and restricted women from seeking employment, except in certain sectors such as health.

Afghan females are not allowed to visit parks and other public places, and a male guardian must accompany them on road trips or air travel.

The United Nations promptly responded to the new law last month, condemning it as a “distressing vision” for the impoverished country’s future and urging de facto authorities to reverse it.

The Taliban government, which is officially not recognized by any country, has dismissed U.N.-led foreign criticism as offensive.

FILE – Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid speaking on state-run Afghan broadcaster. (VOA screen shot)

Zabihullah Mujahid, the chief Taliban spokesperson, asserted that “non-Muslims should first educate themselves about Islamic laws and respect Islamic values” before expressing concerns or rejecting the law. “We find it blasphemous to our Islamic Sharia when objections are raised without understanding it,” he said.

The Taliban has attempted to police the public appearances and behavior of millions of Afghans, especially women, since seizing power in 2021.

But the enforcement of the extremist group’s rules governing morality, including its strict Islamic dress code and gender segregation in society, was sporadic and uneven across the country.

Now, the hard-line Islamist group has formally codified into law its long set of draconian restrictions, triggering fear among Afghans of stricter enforcement.

The Law On the Propagation Of Virtue And Prevention Of Vice, which was officially enacted and published on August 21, imposes severe restrictions on the appearances, behavior, and movement of women. The law also enforces constraints on men.

Adela, a middle-aged woman, is the sole breadwinner for her family of 10. She is concerned that the new morality law will erode the few rights that women still have.

The Taliban has allowed some women, primarily in the health and education sectors, to work outside their homes.

“I fear that Afghan women will no longer be able to go to their jobs,” Adela, whose name has been changed to protect her identity, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi.

Dilawar, a resident of the capital, Kabul, warned of a public backlash if the Taliban intensified the enforcement of its widely detested restrictions.

“The youth are suffering from extreme unemployment. Oppressing them…will provoke reactions,” the 26-year-old, whose name was also changed due to security concerns, told Radio Azadi.

Long List Of Restrictions

The new morality law consists of 35 articles, many of which target women.

Women are required to fully cover their faces and bodies when in public and are banned from wearing “transparent, tight, or short” clothing. The law also bans women from raising their voices or singing in public.

Women must also be accompanied by a male chaperone when they leave their homes and cannot use public transport without a male companion.

The law forbids unrelated adult men and women from looking at each other in public.

Men must also dress modestly, even when playing sports or exercising. They are prohibited from shaving or trimming their beards. Men are also compelled to attend prayers as well as fast during the holy Islamic month of Ramadan.

“[Men] should not get haircuts, which violate Islamic Shari’a law,” says one of the articles in the law. “Friendship and helping [non-Muslim] infidels and mimicking their appearance” is prohibited.

Premarital sex and homosexuality are outlawed. Drinking alcohol, the use of illicit drugs, and gambling are considered serious crimes.

Playing or listening to music in public is banned. Meanwhile, the celebration of non-Muslim holidays, including Norouz, the Persian New Year, are also prohibited.

The Taliban’s dreaded morality police are responsible for enforcing the morality law. The force, believed to number several thousand, is overseen by the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.

Under the new law, the powers of the morality police have been expanded.

Members of the force will be deployed across the country to monitor compliance, according to the law. Members of the morality police are instructed to issue warnings to offenders. Repeat offenders can be detained, fined, and even have their property confiscated.

The morality police can detain offenders for up to three days and hand out punishments “deemed appropriate” without a trial.

The Taliban revealed last week that the force detained more than 13,000 Afghans during the past year for violating the extremist group’s morality rules.

‘Hellish Conditions’

The Taliban’s morality law has been widely condemned by Afghans, Western countries, and human rights organizations.

The Taliban has defended the law, which it claims is “firmly rooted in Islamic teachings.”

“This new law is deeply harmful,” said Heather Barr, associate women’s rights director at Human Rights Watch. “It represents a hardening and institutionalization of these rules by giving them the status of law.”

She said the law is a “serious escalation” and “swift slide to ever more hellish conditions for Afghan women and girls.”

Roza Otunbaeva, head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, on August 25 called the law a “distressing vision for Afghanistan’s future” because of the broad powers the Taliban’s morality police will have “to threaten and detain anyone based on broad and sometimes vague lists of infractions.”

Obaidullah Baheer, a lecturer of politics at the American University of Afghanistan, said that parts of the morality law are “extremely vague.”

Yet, the morality police are given broad powers, including to “arbitrarily” punish people without due process, he said.

“[This is] making them the judge, jury, and executioner,” said Baheer.