Despite the promises and reassurances made by the Taliban after it took control of the country in August 2021, regarding the way women should be treated and their rights preserved, its decisions prove the opposite.
In a new law, the Taliban banned Afghan women from entering public parks, fun fairs and gyms in the capital, Kabul, after they were the last places of recreation available to women with severe restrictions imposed by their regime.
Taliban claim: They violated the instructions
This new law, which came into force this week, will further remove Afghan women from the shrinking public space, especially after they are banned from travelling without a male escort and forced to wear the headscarf or burqa outside, as well as the closure of schools for teenage girls more than a year ago common in most parts of the country.
“For the past 15 months, we tried our best to arrange and sort it out — and even specified the days,” said the spokesman for the Ministry for the Prevention of Vice and Promotion of Virtue, Mohammad Akif Sadiq Mohajir, told AFP late Wednesday, November 9.
“But still, in some places — in fact, we must say in many places — the rules were violated,” Mohammad Akif said.
“In most cases, we have seen both men and women together in parks and, unfortunately, the hijab was not observed. So, we had to come up with another decision and for now we ordered all parks and gyms to be closed for women ” he added.
As per a report by AFP, this decision was met with disappointment by the women and park operators who have invested heavily in upgrading the facilities.
Strict rules, especially for women
It is reported that before the ban imposed this week, the parks received hundreds of visitors on the days when women brought their children during family gatherings, but this has completely disappeared with the recent decision.
During the movement’s rule of the country between 1996 and 2001, the Taliban imposed its strict rules on citizens, especially women.
It also prevented girls from studying at that time and prohibited women from working or serving in the government or the army and travelling, and they were rarely seen in the public streets without a man’s escort.
