There are few garments that have become global icons and are recognized throughout the world. The Scottish kilt is one, and so are the Japanese kimono and the Native American headband with feather(s). During the period of the Taliban in Afghanistan (1996-2001) the Afghan chadari, or burqa as it is also known, has also become a global icon. For many in the non-Muslim world the chadari is a symbol of the oppression of women and their rights, a view that became even more widely voiced after the tragic events of 9/11. For others it is a romantic garment that wafts in the air as the wearer walks; a colourful, visual device used to great effect by the Iranian film maker, Mosen Makhmalbaf, in Kandahar (2001).
The chadari/burqa afforded many women protection from the prying eyes of men. At the same time the chadari gave some women the opportunity to live a secret life well away from family, friends and neighbours, as is attested to by a Persian saying from the early nineteenth century: "A Caubul wife in Boorka-cover, was never known without a lover." The difference came in the late twentieth century, when Afghan urban women were forced, rather than required by tradition, to wear these garments by the Taliban on the grounds that it was an Islamic requirement: a view that was not shared by all Afghan men and women. The penalty inflicted by the Taliban on a woman who was not totally covered in a chadari could range from a beating to death.
Muslim women in what is now Pakistan and northern India have being wearing this style of garment for over four hundred years, while a closely related version of it has been worn in Afghanistan for about two hundred years. These garments were worn because of a long-standing local custom for Muslim women to be totally covered when in public. Not to wear such a covering was seen as indicating a woman’s (and thus her family’s) lack of respectability, honour and social status.
The two names, chadari and burqa, have been used for this style of garment for a long time and the name burqa is probably the older of the two. Basically, burqa is the Pakistani term, while chadari is used in Afghanistan for a closely related garment. However, most Westerners refer to it as a burqa for both forms. In reality a burqa from Pakistan consists of a cap, a cape section (body covering) that incorporates an eye grid, and a separate panel lower down at the front. The cap, the face veil section and the panel are usually decorated with embroidery. The Pakistani burqa does not have the tight, pressed pleats of the Afghan chadari. Instead, the ‘pleats’ or rather folds of this body covering are normally made by gathering the excess material of the chador (Persian for 'tent'; it is the name for the large sheet which is thrown down the head covering the body, but not the face) on a draw thread, and then sewing the material to the cap. The folds are created by working several rows of running stitches or by smocking the cloth, so creating a honeycomb effect.
The Afghan chadari consists of a cap, body covering and a separate face veil panel. In contrast to the (Pakistani) burqa described above, the panel with the eye grid is attached to the cap and there is no separate, inserted panel lower down. Around the upper part of the chador there are hundreds of narrow pleats that are gathered together and then sewn onto the cap. It is these pleats that give the Afghan garment its voluminous nature. The cap and panel are normally decorated with embroidery. It is this type of chadari that has become a global icon and (in)famous throughout the world.