Afghan women travel restrictions

The Taliban began refusing women to travel abroad without male guardians, sometimes under confounding circumstances

Over the weekend, the Taliban began refusing to allow women to travel abroad without male guardians, sometimes under confounding circumstances since their male relatives are based abroad. The move is not helping the group in its quest to gain legitimacy as Afghanistan’s government. Already, women and girls have been protesting in Kabul, demanding that they be allowed to go back to school. The Taliban had claimed that most schools and universities for women would reopen by March, but girls ended up being sent home within hours of the first day of school opening earlier this week, with a new reopen date given for next month. Neither the Taliban nor school administrators have been able to offer a solid explanation for why the group took a U-turn.

It also doesn’t help that recent reports in Western media suggest that some Taliban leaders have been sending their daughters abroad to study because they are supposedly concerned about their daughters missing classes at home. If true, we would not be surprised if these VVIP children were allowed to travel without male guardians. As for regular Afghans, the Taliban had already imposed restrictions on women and girls traveling more than 72km without a male guardian. However, there were some question marks over whether the rules would apply to air travel. Those questions appear to have been answered by Sunday, with reports that the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice had told airlines to bar unaccompanied women from travelling. Interestingly, the vague new rules do not list any exemptions for dual nationals or other women whose only male guardians are based abroad.

Meanwhile, recent reports regarding the enforcement of ultraconservative policies suggest that the central Taliban leadership also lacks control over its own rank and file, as several local officials have apparently been imposing policies that are much harsher than anything formally announced by the Taliban leadership in Kabul or Kandahar. Given the Taliban’s pursuit of international recognition and withdrawal of economic sanctions, these recent U-turns make even less sense. The West has conditioned sanctions removal on ensuring women’s rights, and the US, unsurprisingly, cancelled negotiations immediately after the Taliban closed schools on Wednesday. It appears the new Taliban, like the old, still prioritise oppressing women over uplifting Afghanistan.