The Taliban are shackling half the Afghan population

THE PAST week has been grim in Afghanistan. Many girls had looked forward to going to secondary school on March 23rd. But the Taliban broke an earlier promise and barred them, citing their supposedly immodest uniforms. As if that were not bad enough, Afghan women who venture far from home will now need male chaperones, making it impractical to hold down a job and needlessly hard to visit a hospital. Parks are to be segregated by sex, to preserve public morals. Foreign broadcasters such as the BBC were taken off local channels. And it was reported that government employees will be obliged to wear traditional dress and sport beards. That would be tricky for women, had they not mostly been sent home months ago.