An Afghan garment similar to the chador, consisting of a long piece of fabric that covers the entire body including the eyes, with a small mesh screen to see through.
From Pashto and Dari چادری (chādrī), related to Persian chador but with Afghan modifications, used primarily in Afghanistan and surrounding regions.
The chadri's integral mesh eye-screen is a brilliant engineering solution that allows women to maintain privacy while still being able to navigate public spaces—it's clothing as a form of specialized practical technology.
Chadri (Afghan Pashto origin) is a full-body covering including the face mesh. In Western media post-2001, the chadri became a symbol of Taliban oppression, stripping Afghan women's narratives of resistance and agency.
Refer to it as an Afghan garment without presumption. Acknowledge that some Afghan women wore it by choice, others by force, and many have reclaimed it as anti-colonial or cultural identity.
["Afghan full-body covering","burqa (though burqa ≠ chadri)","veil"]
Afghan women—writers, activists, scholars—have documented their own complex relationships to the chadri. Center their voices, not Western rescue narratives.
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