Taliban: In the latest attack on basic human rights by the country’s new rulers since capturing power, the Taliban have ordered airlines in Afghanistan to prohibit women from flying unless they are accompanied by a male relative.
Hardline Islamists have imposed severe limitations on freedoms, primarily targeting Afghan children and women, and have ordered local television stations to stop transmitting BBC news bulletins as of Sunday. They also made it illegal for men and women to enter the capital’s parks on the same day over the weekend.
The Taliban promised a lighter version of the severe rule that marked their first tenure in office, from 1996 to 2001, when they returned to power, but limitations have crept back in, often applied regionally at the discretion of local officials. Women are progressively being excluded from public life, with women being forbidden from school and most government employment, as well as being forced to dress in accordance with the Taliban’s rigid interpretation of the Koran.
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In their most recent crackdown, the Taliban ordered Ariana Afghan Airlines and Kam Air in Afghanistan to prohibit women from flying without being escorted by a “mahram,” or adult male relative.
According to aviation officials, the decision was made during a meeting on Thursday between representatives of the Taliban, the two airlines, and Kabul airport immigration authorities. “No women are permitted to fly on any local or international flights without a male relative,” a top official of Ariana Afghan Airlines said to his personnel in a letter seen by AFP.
The Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the Taliban’s religious enforcers, denied ordering the flight restriction, but two travel agents contacted by AFP verified they had stopped giving tickets to solitary female travelers.
Although local media claimed that an Afghan woman with a US passport was denied boarding last week, it was unclear whether the order would affect foreigners. “On Friday, some ladies traveling without a male relative were denied boarding on a Kam Air trip from Kabul to Islamabad,” a passenger on the flight told AFP. Women traveling alone had already been prohibited from doing intercity vehicle journeys by the Taliban, but they have been permitted to fly until recently.
Regarding park visits
According to a ministry announcement, women are now only allowed to visit parks on Sundays, Mondays, and Tuesdays, with the rest days reserved for men. “It is not the Islamic Emirate’s order, but our God’s order,” said Mohammad Yahya Aref, a Ministry official, “that men and women who are strangers to each other should not gather at one spot.” The latest restriction on women comes after all girls’ secondary schools were closed on Wednesday, only hours after they were allowed to return for the first time since August.
Thousands of girls had returned to class, but administrators ordered them to return home mere hours later, causing international anger. According to Taliban insiders, the decision was made following a closed-door meeting of the movement’s top officials last week in Kandahar, the group’s de facto power center.
If the schools are not opened within a week, some Afghan women groups have threatened nationwide protests. Repressing Afghan women and girls, according to Rina Amiri, the US special envoy to Afghanistan, is no replacement for administration. On Twitter, she wrote, “Create a culture of optimism rather than fear.” Local media networks, which thrived under past US-backed administrations, appear to have been targeted by the Taliban.
Authorities in Afghanistan ordered the BBC’s television partners to stop broadcasting news bulletins in Pashto, Persian, and Uzbek on Sunday. “The Islamic Emirate has no access to check the programming of international TV networks because they are transmitted from overseas,” government spokesman Inamullah Samangani told AFP. Women journalists working for Afghan television networks have already been compelled to wear hijabs, and foreign plays have been banned.