Taliban rejects UN concerns over laws banning women’s voices and bare faces in public

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The Taliban has rejected concerns and criticism from the United Nations over new vice and virtue laws which include a ban on women’s voices and bare faces in public. On Sunday, Roza Otunbayeva, who heads the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, said the law showed a “distressing vision” for the country’s future. She said the laws extend the “already intolerable restrictions” on the rights of women and girls, with “even the sound of a female voice” outside the home apparently deemed a moral violation. Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid warned against what he called “arrogance” from those who may not be familiar with Islamic Sharia law, particularly non-Muslims who might raise objections.