The Taliban have banned women from visiting all parks in Kabul, excluding them still further from public life in Afghanistan.

A spokesman for the Vice and Virtue Ministry told the BBC those managing parks in the capital had been told not to allow women in.

The group claims Islamic laws were not being followed at parks.

Women’s rights and freedoms have been severely restricted since the militant Islamists seized power in August 2021.

Under Taliban rules on segregating people by gender, women have been allowed to visit parks on three days every week – Sunday, Monday, Tuesday – and men on the remaining four.

Now women won’t be allowed even if accompanied by male relatives.

“We’ve done this because in the past 15 months, despite our efforts, people have been going to the park and not respecting Sharia laws,” Mohammed Akif, spokesman for the Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, told the BBC.

“The restriction is for all women, whether they are with or without a mahram [male escort].”

The ban on women extends to amusement parks that usually have rides like bumper cars or a ferris wheel, and where families visit together with their children.

It appears to be in force only in the capital for now, but in the past such rules have eventually applied across the country.

One woman who Reuters news agency caught up with at the entrance to a Kabul park was disappointed after being turned away.

“When a mother comes with their children, they must be allowed to enter the park, because these children haven’t seen anything good… they must play and be entertained,” said Masooma, who gave only her first name for security reasons.

Under the Taliban women in Afghanistan have been subjected to a series of curbs on their freedoms.

A number of women have been beaten for demanding their rights.

Women are barred from going on longer distance journeys without a male chaperone. Teenage girls have still not returned to school in most of the country, despite Taliban promises to allow them to do so.

While some women still work in sectors such as healthcare and education, most were told not to go to work after the Taliban swept back to power. In May a decree was passed ordering women to wear the Islamic face veil in public, although some in urban areas can still be seen failing to comply.

The Taliban have vowed there will be no brutal repression of women as there was when they were first in power in the 1990s.

They say they now respect women’s rights in line with Sharia law, and are not against women being educated or having jobs.

But Western diplomats have indicated to the Taliban that resuming development funding for a country in deep economic crisis depends on the treatment of women improving.

By Yogita Limaye in Kabul and Simon Fraser in London – BBC

L’article Afghanistan: Taliban ban women from Kabul parks est apparu en premier sur زوايا ميادين | Mayadin Columns.

Afghanistan’s president, Ashraf Ghani, held urgent talks with local leaders and international partners on Saturday as Taliban rebels pushed closer to Kabul, capturing a town south of the capital that is one of the gateways to the city.

“As your president, my focus is on preventing further instability, violence and displacement of my people,” Ghani said in a brief televised address, as the US and other countries rushed in troops to help evacuate their embassies.

Ghani gave no sign of responding to a Taliban demand that he resign for any talks on a ceasefire and a political settlement, saying “reintegration of the security and defence forces is our priority, and serious measures are being taken in this regard”.

He spoke soon after the insurgents took Pul-e-Alam, the capital of Logar province, 40 miles south of Kabul, according to a local provincial council member.

The Taliban did not face much resistance, the council member said on condition of anonymity.

The gain of the city, a key staging post for a potential assault on Kabul, comes a day after the insurgents took the country’s second- and third-biggest cities.

US troops have begun flying in to Kabul to help in the evacuation of embassy personnel and other civilians, a US official said.

The Pentagon has said two battalions of marines and one infantry battalion will arrive in Kabul by Sunday evening, involving about 3,000 troops.

“They have arrived, their arrival will continue till tomorrow,” the official said.

An infantry brigade combat team will also move out of Fort Bragg, North Carolina, to Kuwait to act as a quick reaction force for security in Kabul if needed, the Pentagon said.

Britain and several other western nations are also sending troops, as resistance from Afghan government forces crumbles and fears grow that an assault on Kabul could be just days away.

An Afghan government official confirmed on Friday that Kandahar, the economic hub of the south, was under Taliban control as US-led international forces complete their withdrawal after 20 years of war.

Herat in the west, near the border with Iran, also fell to the hardline Islamist group.

Kandahar’s loss was a heavy blow to the government. It is the heartland of the Taliban and is close to the town of Spin Boldak, one of the two main entry points into Pakistan and a major source of tax revenues.

A US defence official said before the fall of Pul-e-Alam that there was concern that the Taliban – ousted from power in 2001 after the 9/11 attacks on the US – could make a move on Kabul within days.

“Kabul is not right now in an imminent threat environment, but clearly … if you just look at what the Taliban has been doing, you can see that they are trying to isolate Kabul,” Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said.

Some embassies have begun to burn sensitive material ahead of evacuating, diplomats said.

The US embassy in the Afghan capital informed staff that burn bins and an incinerator were available to destroy material including papers and electronic devices to “reduce the amount of sensitive material on the property”, according to an advisory seen by Reuters.

UN secretary general António Guterres warned that “Afghanistan is spinning out of control” and urged all parties to do more to protect civilians.

“This is the moment to halt the offensive. This is the moment to start serious negotiation. This is the moment to avoid a prolonged civil war, or the isolation of Afghanistan,” Guterres told reporters in New York.

Many people in the capital were stocking up on rice and other food as well as first aid, residents said. Visa applications at embassies were running in the tens of thousands, officials said.

The explosion in fighting has raised fears of a refugee crisis and a rollback of the country’s gains in human rights.

Some 400,000 civilians have been forced from their homes this year, 250,000 of them since May, a UN official said.

The speed of the Taliban’s gains has led to recriminations over the US withdrawal, which was negotiated last year under the Trump administration.

Joe Biden said this week he did not regret his decision to follow through with the withdrawal. He noted Washington has spent more than $1tn and lost thousands of troops over two decades, and called on Afghanistan’s army and leaders to step up.

Opinion polls showed most Americans back Biden’s decision, but Republicans criticised the Democratic president’s handling of the US withdrawal.

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L’article Afghan president in urgent talks as Taliban push closer to Kabul est apparu en premier sur زوايا ميادين | Mayadin Columns.