The chadari/burqa is basically a combination of three garments, a small cap, a large cape that covers the body, and a face veil.
In Afghanistan this garment is known as a chadari (from the Persian word chador, meaning a tent), while in neighbouring Pakistan and northern India it is called a burqa.
There seems to be the idea that it only took on the Arab name, burqa, since the coming of the Taliban and that the use of the term burqa is a modern adaptation by the Western media. In reality the two names, chadari and burqa, have been used for this style of garment for a long time and burqa is probably the older of the two.
But why do women wear a chadari?
The chadari is basically an urban. It is rarely by nomadic women garment. In some places, wearing a chadari is seen as indicating a woman's (and thus her family's) respectability, honour and social status. In addition, these garments afford many women protection from dust and sand, and indeed, the prying eyes of men. It is basically a daily garment garment, which has been given a religious meaning by various groups over the centuries.
A significant change in the attitude to this garment came in the late 20th century when urban women were forced to wear them by the Taliban on the grounds that it was an Islamic requirement: a view that is not shared by all Afghans. The penalty inflicted by the Taliban on a woman who was not totally covered in a chadari ranged from a beating to death.
