The new guidelines issued by the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, on Sunday, also urged all vehicle owners to transport only women who wear the headscarf.
“Women who intend to travel distances of more than 72 kilometers should not be offered to transport unless they are accompanied by a member of their close family,” ministry spokesman Sadiq Akef Mohajer told AFP on Sunday.
The instructions, which were circulated on social networks, come weeks after the ministry asked Afghan television channels to stop showing dramatic films and series in which women are represented.
The ministry also called on female journalists working on television to wear a headscarf on screen.
On Sunday, Mohajer said that wearing a headscarf would be a requirement for women seeking to board transportation. The ministry directive also ordered people to stop playing music in their vehicles.
The Taliban did not make it clear what they meant when they referred to the veil, as their interpretation of it may range from a head covering to a face covering or a complete covering from head to toe, knowing that the majority of Afghan women wear a headscarf.
Since taking power in August, the Taliban has imposed numerous restrictions on women and girls, despite promising less stringent rule than in its first state in the 1990s.
The Taliban authorities have been persuaded in a number of states to reopen schools, but girls are still prevented from attending secondary schools.
Earlier this month, the movement issued a decree in the name of its leader ordering the government to grant women their rights.
Activists hope the Taliban will make concessions on women’s rights in a bid to win international recognition and return aid to the country, which is among the world’s poorest.
The world’s leading donors have long indicated that respect for women’s rights is a condition for re-delivery of aid.
The movement, in its first term, imposed on women wearing the burqa, did not allow them to leave their homes unaccompanied, and prevented them from working and studying.
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