First modification:
The Taliban announced that women wishing to travel more than 70 kilometers away must be accompanied by a male member of their immediate family. The recommendation also asks drivers to accept women on board their vehicles only if they are wearing the “Islamic headscarf.”
“Women who travel more than 45 miles (72 kilometers) cannot make the trip if they are not accompanied by a close relative,” the spokesman for the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, Sadeq Akif Muhajir, told AFP. who added that the companion had to be a man.
The directive, which was also released on social media, comes a few weeks after the ministry asked Afghan televisions to stop broadcasting “soap operas and soap operas with women” and to ensure that journalists wear “the Islamic veil.” onscreen.
The Taliban did not specify what they understood by “Islamic veil”, whether it was a simple headscarf, which most Afghan women already wear, or a larger veil.
Increased restrictions
This is yet another sign of the tightening of the Taliban regime, despite its initial promises that its regime would be less strict than during its first term between 1996 and 2001.
Since their return to power in August, the Taliban have imposed various restrictions on women and girls. “This new order basically … goes further in this direction of taking women prisoners,” Heather Barr of the NGO Human Rights Watch told AFP. “Every day we see more who the Taliban really are, what their views are on women’s rights, and it’s a very, very bleak picture,” she added.
In several provinces, local authorities have agreed to reopen schools for girls, although many across the country are still unable to attend. In early December, a decree on behalf of the movement’s leader called on the government to enforce women’s rights, but the decree did not mention the right to education.
Other recommendations issued by the ministry include a ban on listening to music in vehicles. It was not immediately clear to what extent these recommendations would be applied in the country, but on Saturday, December 25, the Taliban had established roadblocks at points in the capital to inform motorists.
A conditional international aid
Activists hope that the Taliban’s battle to gain international recognition and get aid back flowing in one of the world’s poorest countries will lead to concessions to women.
Respect for women’s rights has been repeatedly cited by major global donors as a condition for restoring aid.
Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world and is on the brink of economic collapse. The UN has warned of the arrival of a “rush of hunger”, estimating that 22 million of the nearly 40 million Afghans could suffer an “acute” shortage of food this winter.
With AFP and EFE
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