The Taliban have banned Afghan women from entering public parks and amusement parks in the capital, Kabul. The existing rules of gender segregated access have been broken “in many places,” said Mohammed Akif Sadek Mohajir, spokesman for the so-called Ministry for Protection from Vice and Promotion of Virtue.
“There was mingling, veils were ignored, so this decision was made for now,” he explained.
The Taliban had made access to the parks conditional on men and women visiting separately. According to Mohajir, an attempt was made to make this possible, for example through special visiting days only for women. The ban, enacted this week, was greeted with dismay by women and park operators.
“There are no schools, no jobs,” said a mother at a park, “we should at least have a place to have fun.” They are “bored” and fed up with “being at home all day”.
21-year-old student Raihana said: “In Islam it is obviously permissible to go out and visit parks. If you don’t have freedom in your own country, what does it mean to live here?”
Habib Jan Sasai, operator of a large amusement park on the outskirts of the capital, fears having to close if the new rule is enforced. “Without women, the children will not come,” he said.
The rule, introduced this week, further restricts women’s freedom of movement in public spaces in Afghanistan. Since the Taliban took power in August 2021, they have already been banned from traveling unaccompanied by a male. Wearing a hijab or burqa is compulsory outside of your own home. Teenage girls are banned from school in most of the country.