There is one aspect that the Taliban, in their intricate, controversial and conflicting relationship with women, have never considered. In their eagerness to annihilate and enslave them, making them sexual objects or faceless maidservants, they made them protagonists precisely with the symbolic garment that was to contribute to making them invisible, namely the burqa. When the regime of Mullah Omar
fell in 2001 ,the Afghan headdress made the rounds of newsrooms all over the world, outclassing the hijab and the chador in popularity and wrongly becoming the main model of the Islamic veil. So, it turns out, in fact, what the Taliban most feared: women had become the most discussed topic of the moment thanks to an item of clothing chosen for them by men. It seems a paradox, but the burqa had discovered women and its evolution has resulted in a slow process of globalization. Not surprisingly, we find it even on the main e-commerce sites, where the stored items are many. We mention only a few: Afghan burqa, women’s burqa, full-length burqa and… sexy burqa. The related translations, of course, are approximate and do not always correspond effectively to the veil imposed by the Taliban,
Scrolling through the various models, in reality, of real burqas, with the retina covering the eyes, there are very few and in the translation they are referred to as “desert dress” or “head scarf”. The nuances range from off-white to black, up to unusual colors such as red and aqua green. The traditional colors, on the other hand, are light blue and black. But the singular fact and, not only, the description of the article which, it is specified, is imported from Afghanistan, but above all the side note: “Hides your beauty for someone special”. And, even more surprisingly, there is no shortage of reviews. Three are in Italian. The first, detailed, declaims the punctuality of the shipment, but the poor quality of the product, made of one hundred percent polyester. Purchased as a “dress for a faithful bride” to play a joke on a friend approaching the wedding, the buyer criticizes the workmanship, “the rough stitching, the leftover thread not cut and parts of the fabric frayed”, urging the manufacturer ” to greater attention to the quality of what it sells “. The second review and a severe criticism: “Horrible to think of locking a woman in there. God loves women ”. But the fact that he was able to exercise the right to review it means that he bought it “Horrible to think of locking a woman in there. God loves women ”. But the fact that she was able to exercise the right to review it means that she bought it “Horrible to think of locking a woman in there. God loves women ”. But the fact that she was able to exercise the right to review it means that she bought it
The third, finally, is signed with a woman’s name, but to write and a man, who advises against buying the product that is too short: “When my woman walks you can see the shoes sticking out from underneath. In addition, the texture of the backlit face peephole shows a shadow that could give an idea of her face. Strongly not recommended “.
Furthermore, since last August, with the return to power of the Taliban in the ancient land of the mullahs, the fame of the burqa has reached its peak, as all the newspapers, from New York to London to Moscow, have reported how the prices of the Afghan full veil have risen frightfully. Many women rushed to buy it before the fall of Kabul to avoid the exorbitant prices. In short, the veil market had never been heard of. Certainly, he would never have imagined theKing Habibullah Kalakani when in 1890 he imposed it for the first time on the two hundred women of his harem to prevent men from falling into temptation when looking at them outside the palace. Since then, the garment has become for the exclusive use of the upper social classes, then of the poorer classes, and finally, starting from 1961, it has been forbidden to working women. With the Taliban it has become international and has the flavor of the most sensational boomerang in history.
