The Taliban announced this Sunday that women who want to travel long distances must be accompanied by a man from their close family, a further sign of the regime’s hardening, despite its initial promises.
The recommendation, issued by the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice and circulating on social networks, also asks drivers to accept women in their vehicles only if they wear an “Islamic veil”.
“Women who travel more than 45 miles (72 km) cannot make the trip if they are not accompanied by a close family member,” Ministry spokesman Sadeq Akif Muhajir told AFP, who specified that the companion must be a man.
Since coming to power in August, the Taliban have imposed various restrictions on women and girls, despite initial promises that their regime would be less strict than the first (1996-2001).
During their first rule, the Taliban forced women to wear the burqa. They could only leave the house accompanied by a man and were not allowed to work or study.
When they returned to power in August, the Taliban, who need the recognition of the international community and humanitarian aid, had declared that they would be more open than during their previous period.
“We see a little more every day who the Taliban really are, what their views are on women’s rights, and it’s a very, very dark picture,” Heather Barr of the NGO Human Rights told AFP. Watch.
“Prisoners”
“This new order goes above all … further in making women prisoners,” added Heather Barr.
The Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice announced other measures, for example, a ban on listening to music in vehicles.
It is not clear at the moment to what extent these recommendations will be implemented, but on Saturday the Taliban had erected barriers at some points in the capital, Kabul, to inform motorists.
This directive comes a few weeks after the ministry asked Afghan televisions not to broadcast “soap operas and soap operas with women”, and to ensure that journalists wear “Islamic headscarves” on screen.
The Taliban also do not specify what they understand by “Islamic veil”, if it is a scarf or if it also covers the face, since most Afghan women wear garments that cover much more.
At the same time, there have been other gestures of the opposite sign. In several provinces, local authorities agreed to open schools to girls, although many of them are still unable to attend.
In early December, a decree on behalf of the movement’s supreme leader, Mullah Hibatullah Akhundzada, called on the government to uphold women’s rights, although it did not mention the right to education.
Respect for women’s rights is one of the conditions imposed by international donors for the return of humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.
This country, one of the poorest in the world, is on the brink of economic collapse. The UN warned of a near “avalanche of hunger”, since it considers that 22 of the nearly 40 million Afghans may suffer an “acute” lack of food this winter. (I)
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