The Afghani burqa in retreat ... for now

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An Afghan woman shops for clothing.

Nazar, right, a salesman at a burqa store, helps women to choose a burqa.

Haji Hussain, 75, who colours clothing for 40 years, takes a freshly colored burqa out for drying in his small shop in the old town of Kabul.

A woman waits with her child in front a changing room to try on a new burqa.

Haji Hussain, 75, who colours clothing for 40 years, takes a freshly colored burqa out for drying outside his small shop.

An Afghan woman waits with her child in front a changing room to try on a new burqa.

Alim Nazery, left, owner of a burqa store in Kabul’s old town market for 27 years, bargains with an Afghan couple about the price of a new burqa.

An Afghan woman holds her newly born baby wrapped in her burqa.

An Afghan woman waits to get in line.

An Afghan woman peers through the the eye slit of her burqa as she waits to try on a new burqa in shop in the old town of Kabul, Afghanistan.

The decline is most noticeable in Kabul, the capital, where women began joining the work force and adopting Western dress soon after the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that ousted the puritanical Taliban. Demand for burqas appears strongest in the provinces, where family pressures and the power of conservative warlords continue to enforce a stricter Islamic code.

In the countryside, where kidnapping and rape are a constant threat, a burqa gives its wearer the safety of anonymity.

But in Kabul, say clothiers, demand is declining as young women go to school and take office jobs – pursuits that were impossible during the six years that the Taliban ran the country. But women’s rights activists caution against reading too much into the burqa situation.

They say it’s the least of their problems as they continue to battle such issues as domestic violence and forced marriages.

AP