Afghanistan: Taliban ban women from taking long-distance road trips without male escort

In its latest curb on women’s rights, the Taliban on Sunday said that Afghan females seeking long-distance road trips should only be offered transport if accompanied by a male relative. According to the BBC, the directive was issued by the Taliban’s Ministry of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. It said that women seeking to travel solo for more than 72 kilometres should not be offered road transport unless they are accompanied by a close male family member. 

The guidance is the latest curb on women’s rights since the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in mid-August. The interim Taliban government in the war-torn country also called on vehicle owners to refuse rides to women not wearing headscarves. Additionally, it asked people to stop playing music in their vehicles. 

Now, the new guidance has drawn condemnation from right activists. According to the BBC, the campaign group Human Rights Watch said that the new restrictions moved further towards making women prisoners. The group added that the move shuts off opportunities for Afghan women to be able to move about freely, to travel to another city, to do business or to be able to flee if they are facing violence in the home. 

Taliban crackdown on Afghan women 

Meanwhile, it is to mention that the latest move follows the Taliban barring women in public-sector roles from returning to work. Ever since the Islamist group seized power on August 15, a series of discriminatory rules have been enacted by the Taliban across Afghanistan including women can be taught by only women, and that men and women must be separated in a mixed classroom, use separate entrances and exits, and must not blend. The militant group also ordered the young girls and women to stay indoors and not to go to school.

The militants even banned women from appearing in roles on television, instructed female municipal workers to stay at home and their jobs can be filled by a man. Several Afghan women have since taken to the street to protest for their basic rights. The Taliban, on the other hand, has repeatedly said that the restrictions on women are “temporary” and only in place to ensure all workplaces and learning environments are "safe" for women and girls. However, respect for women’s rights has been cited by global donors as a condition for restoring aid to Afghanistan, which has been facing a deep humanitarian and economic crisis. 

(Image: AP)