TEHRAN, August 18. /TASS/. The Taliban movement’s rise to power in Kabul and nearly everywhere else in Afghanistan has pushed up the price of paranjas ten times on average, the Iranian news agency ISNA said on Wednesday.
The agency speculates Afghan women must have decided the Taliban (outlawed in Russia) will promptly declare the wearing of paranja mandatory. An Afghan woman told the agency she had to spend several hours in a line at an ATM to withdraw enough cash to buy a paranja.
"The Taliban has seized power in Kabul to everybody’s surprise. Everyone thought that the city would be able to resist at least for a year or more. Paranjas are hard to come by. I have one or two paranjas at home, but there are three women in my family. Possibly we will manage to make a hijab from a bedsheet," the woman shared her concerns with the agency.
The Taliban’s spokesman Soheil Shahin said the movement would declare the hijab a mandatory item of clothing in accordance with Sharia law, but the paranja was not on the agenda for now.
The paranja is an item of Islamic traditional clothing covering the head and body, while the hijab is a scarf covering the head and shoulders.