PUL-I-KHUMRI, AFGHANISTAN — The old man in the front seat turned around to deliver a final admonition. “Remember, your name is Nazu,” he said. Blinking through the blue mesh of my burka, I nodded. But ...

Young, urban women in Afghanistan are increasingly ditching the all-enveloping blue burqa with a face mesh that has become a symbol of the Taliban's oppression of women.

The Netherlands on Tuesday became the latest European country to introduce a ban on face-covering veils in some public spaces. The Dutch Upper House of Parliament passed a law banning face coverings, ...