Model Lily Cole apologizes for posing in a burqa on Instagram: 'I hadn't read the news at the time'

• Lily Cole posted two pictures of herself wearing a blue burqa to Instagram.
• Critics slammed the photos as culturally insensitive and ill-timed as the Taliban retook Kabul.
• Cole apologized and said she "hadn't read the news at the time."

The model and actress Lily Cole has apologized after posting images of herself wearing a burqa in an attempt to "embrace diversity" and promote her new book hours after the Taliban took control of Afghanistan.

In a series of now-deleted Instagram stories, Cole posted two images of herself wearing a blue burqa. In one of the photos, Cole's face is covered, and the caption links back to the promotional page for her new book on climate change.

Part of the caption read: "Let's embrace diversity on every level - biodiversity; cultural diversity; diversity of thinking; diversity of voices; diversity of ideas."

Cole was quickly slammed by critics who said her pictures were culturally insensitive and ill-timed as just days before Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, had fallen to the Taliban, raising concerns about the future of women's rights in the country. Under the last Taliban regime in the 1990s, strict rules mandated that women wore burqas specifically designed to cover the wearer from head to toe. Failure to wear one while in public could earn women severe punishments.

The British journalist Janice Turner posted Cole's original Instagram story with the caption: "Lily Cole and the vacuity of modern hashtag-feminism. Putting Instagram posturing before universal human rights. I bet Afghan women are celebrating the 'diversity' of wearing this shroud."

-Janice Turner (@VictoriaPeckham) August 16, 2021

Cole subsequently deleted the images from her Instagram story and published a statement of apology where she said she had shared "an old photo" of her wearing a burqa that had been loaned by a friend.

"As she pointed out I was undermining its original purpose by wearing it with my face exposed, but I understand why the image has upset people and want to sincerely apologize for any offense caused," the statement read.

"I hadn't read the news at the time I posted so it was incredibly ill-timed. Thank you for pointing that out to me."

Cole continued to say that her "heart breaks reading about what is happening in Afghanistan." She then shared several news articles with information about Afghanistan as well as links to web pages that are raising funds for Afghan refugees.

The Taliban took control of Kabul on Sunday seizing power in Afghanistan 20 years after it was driven out by US-led forces. In its first press conference following the shocking takeover, Zabihullah Mujahid, the group's spokesman, said they would protect women's rights and press freedom.

"We are going to allow women to work and study. We have got frameworks, of course. Women are going to be very active in the society but within the framework of Islam," Mujahid said.

However, earlier this week, Insider's Sinéad Baker wrote that there have been reports of women already being barred from schools and leaving home without a male escort in some of the regions of Afghanistan that have been captured by the Taliban.

Reuters also reported that women have also been forced from banking jobs.