Afghan women protest against headscarf decree

STORY: Afghanistan's Taliban government ordered women on Saturday to cover their faces in public, a return to a signature policy of their past hardline rule and an escalation of restrictions that are causing anger at home and abroad.

Most women in Afghanistan wear a headscarf for religious reasons but many in urban areas such as Kabul do not cover their faces.

The Taliban has faced intense criticism from Western governments, but also by some religious scholars and Islamic nations, for limiting women's rights including keeping girls' high schools closed.