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According to aviation officials in Afghanistan, the Taliban has ordered airlines to bar women from boarding flights unless accompanied by a male relative. The latest restriction on women comes just hours after all girls’ secondary schools were allowed to restart for the first time since the hardline Islamists took power in August. Two representatives from Afghanistan’s Ariana Afghan airline and Kam Air said late Sunday that the Taliban had told them not to board women traveling alone. The decision was made following a meeting on Thursday between representatives from the Taliban, the two airlines, and airport immigration authorities, officials told AFP on condition of anonymity. Since the Taliban’s return to power, many restrictions on women’s rights have been reinstated, often at the whim of regional officials from the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice.
According to the ministry, no directive prohibiting women from flying alone has been issued.
However, a letter issued by an Ariana Afghan senior official to the airline’s staff following the meeting with the Taliban, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, confirmed the new measure.
“No women are permitted to fly on any domestic or international flight without the presence of a male relative,” the letter stated.
Two travel agencies contacted by AFP confirmed that they had stopped selling tickets to solo female travellers.
“Some women travelling without a male relative were not allowed to board a Kam Air flight from Kabul to Islamabad on Friday,” an AFP passenger said.
According to another source, an Afghan woman with a US passport was also denied boarding on a flight to Dubai on Friday.
The Taliban has already prohibited women travelling alone from taking intercity road trips, but they have previously been allowed to fly.
The Taliban have promised a softer version of the harsh Islamist rule that marked their first tenure in power from 1996 to 2001.
However, since August, they have reversed two decades of advances made by Afghan women.
Women have been barred from most government jobs and secondary school education, and are required to dress in accordance with a strict interpretation of the Koran.
Tens of thousands of girls returned to school on Wednesday after schools reopened, but officials sent them home just hours later, sparking international outrage.
Authorities have yet to provide a clear explanation for the policy reversal.
