KALAI BALLA, Afghanistan — When the Virtue and Vice police caught sight of 14-year-old Farkhanda, with her naive eyes and childish face, they gave chase with their sticks and beat her.
As she walked home from a family wedding in the capital, Kabul, three weeks ago, Farkhanda crossed the line dividing carefree girlhood from fearful womanhood, simply by showing her face.
With one glance, the police from the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice--Afghanistan's religious enforcers--decided that she should be wearing the burka, the head-to-toe shroud compulsory for women in much of this country.
"I was terrified. I was crying. I ran as fast as I could," she said, describing the ordeal after fleeing to this village in the small slice of northern Afghanistan controlled by opposition forces battling the strict Islamic Taliban regime.
Girls younger than 14 don't wear the burka, but women must. Farkhanda's family didn't think that she had to wear it yet, but the Virtue and Vice police deemed her too old to show her face.
Life under the Taliban is so repressive for Afghan women that many of them now see U.S. military action against the regime as their best hope for a freer life.
In Taliban-controlled areas--about 95% of the country--there are even rules on the way a woman can walk. She should not walk too energetically lest her feet slap too hard on the ground, making an unseemly noise, or lest she kick up a corner of her garment, showing a glimpse of ankle.
Kerima, a woman in her early 30s who's related to Farkhanda, never seemed to get it right. She fled Kabul with Farkhanda and other family members just over a week ago. "I was beaten so many times," she said, referring to the Virtue and Vice police. "Every time I went to the bazaar, I was beaten because my ankles were showing. They would hit me on my head, back or my arms. Everyone was afraid, all the women."
When the Taliban came to power, women were banned from almost all jobs and Kerima lost her post as a teacher. After her husband was ousted from his job this year, the family had no income at all.
Kerima expresses the anger lurking under the burka--anger that now haunts the Taliban leadership, which is fearful of insurrection should the U.S. bomb Afghanistan and the opposition Northern Alliance forces use the opportunity to attack Kabul.
