Afghanistan’s Taliban regime has banned women and girls from showing their faces and speaking in public under the pretext of eliminating “vice”—a significant step in their broader mission to erase Afghan women and girls from society.

The new regulations, outlined in a 114-page document seen by The Associated Press, are the first formal set of rules issued since the Taliban seized power in 2021. These laws control many aspects of daily life, from public transportation to music, and even social interactions.

Women are a primary target of these oppressive measures. Article 13 mandates that women must cover their entire bodies, including their faces, at all times in public, claiming this is necessary to avoid “temptation.” Women are also banned from speaking, singing, or reading aloud in public, as the Taliban views their voices as “intimate” and inappropriate for public spaces. Additionally, women are forbidden from making eye contact with men who are not family members.

“Insh’Allah (God Willing), we assure you that this Islamic law will be of great help in the promotion of virtue and the elimination of vice,” said ministry spokesman Maulvi Abdul Ghafar Farooq on Thursday.

Furthermore, Article 19 prohibits solo female travel and enforces segregation between unrelated men and women. It also requires passengers and drivers to stop and pray at designated times.

“Today, I sent my sister to the city to get hygiene products that I need,” said 24-year-old Farkhunda, who is pregnant with her first child. “But the Taliban stopped her and sent her back home, and she cried,”

Women and girls in Afghanistan are living in a constant state of fear and dehumanization, with many expressing that the international community is failing to apply sufficient pressure. Some experts say that the world has come to accept the dehumanization of Afghan women and girls as the norm.

“Our findings show the international community has normalized the discriminatory practices against women in Afghanistan,” Khatera Haleem of Women for Women International told More to Her Story. “We strongly recommend that the international community implement measures, including [applying] international political pressure, to prevent actions that support or normalize the de facto authorities’ discriminatory policies,”