ISLAMABAD — Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers have issued a ban on women’s voices and bare faces in public under new laws approved by the supreme leader in efforts to combat vice and promote virtue. The Taliban had set up a ministry for the “propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice” after seizing power in 2021. The ministry published its vice and virtue laws on Wednesday that cover aspects of everyday life such as public transportation, music, shaving and celebrations. They are set out in a 114-page, 35-article document seen by The Associated Press and are the first formal declaration of vice and virtue laws in Afghanistan since the takeover. It also says the elimination of vice involves prohibiting people from doing things forbidden by Islamic law.

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Persons: Hibatullah Akhundzada, “, ”, Maulvi Abdul Ghafar Farooq, Fiona Frazer Organizations: Taliban, Associated Press Locations: ISLAMABAD —, Afghanistan