09-27-2021, 12:40 PM
Social media campaign highlights colourful Afghan clothing to protest Taliban dress code
![[Image: 000_9NG8Q6.jpg]](https://media.thevibes.com/images/uploads/covers/September_2021/_large/000_9NG8Q6.jpg)
AFTER seeing photos of black-clad Afghan women in full face veils at a pro-Taliban rally in Kabul, Bahar Jalali, an Afghan-American historian, launched a campaign highlighting the vibrant colors of traditional Afghan dresses.
"I was very concerned that the world would think that those clothing worn by those women in Kabul was traditional Afghan clothing, and I don't want our heritage and culture to be misrepresented," said Jalali, who lives in Glenwood, Maryland, about an hour's drive from Washington.
Jalali, 56, created the social media hashtags #DoNotTouchMyClothes and #AfghanistanCulture, which quickly became popular, with women posting photos of themselves wearing colorful, embroidered Afghan clothing and smiling for the camera.
"Afghan women don't wear hijab," Jalali told AFP.
"We wear a loose chiffon headscarf that reveals the hair. And anybody who's familiar with Afghanistan history, culture, knows that the clothing worn by those women have never been seen before in Afghanistan," she said, referring to demonstrators at the pro-Taliban protest at a university lecture in Kabul earlier this month.
About 300 women – covered head-to-toe in all black in accordance with strict new dress policies for women in education under the Taliban – waved Taliban flags, as speakers railed against the West and expressed support for the hardline Islamists.
"Afghan women don't dress that way. Afghan women wear the colorful dresses that we showed the world."
"I was very concerned that the world would think that those clothing worn by those women in Kabul was traditional Afghan clothing, and I don't want our heritage and culture to be misrepresented," said Jalali, who lives in Glenwood, Maryland, about an hour's drive from Washington.
Jalali, 56, created the social media hashtags #DoNotTouchMyClothes and #AfghanistanCulture, which quickly became popular, with women posting photos of themselves wearing colorful, embroidered Afghan clothing and smiling for the camera.
"Afghan women don't wear hijab," Jalali told AFP.
"We wear a loose chiffon headscarf that reveals the hair. And anybody who's familiar with Afghanistan history, culture, knows that the clothing worn by those women have never been seen before in Afghanistan," she said, referring to demonstrators at the pro-Taliban protest at a university lecture in Kabul earlier this month.
About 300 women – covered head-to-toe in all black in accordance with strict new dress policies for women in education under the Taliban – waved Taliban flags, as speakers railed against the West and expressed support for the hardline Islamists.
"Afghan women don't dress that way. Afghan women wear the colorful dresses that we showed the world."
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