BREAKING — Taliban supreme leader orders women to cover their faces in public

Afghanistan’s supreme leader and Taliban chief on Saturday ordered women in the country to wear the all-covering burqa in public. The decree marks one of the harshest controls imposed on women’s lives since the hardline Islamists seized power.

“They should wear a chadori [head-to-toe burqa] as it is traditional and respectful,” said a decree issued by Hibatullah Akhundzada that was released by Taliban authorities at a function in Kabul.

The burqa decree is the latest move by the Taliban to limit women’s rights. In March, it reversed an order that would have allowed girls to attend middle and high school.