Herat: Taliban Professionals in the sector told AFP that authorities in Afghanistan’s most progressive city have asked driving instructors to stop issuing licenses to women.
While Afghanistan is a deeply conservative, patriarchal country, it is not uncommon for women to drive in large cities – especially Herat in the northwest, which has long been considered liberal by Afghan standards.
“We have been instructed to stop issuing licenses orally female driver But the city has not been instructed to stop women from driving.” Jan Aga AchkazaiHead of Herat’s Institute of Traffic Management, which oversees driving schools.
Adil Adeel, a 29-year-old female driving instructor who owns a training institute, said the Taliban want to ensure that the next generation does not have the same opportunities as their mothers.
“We were told not to give driving lessons and not to issue licences,” she said.
The rebel-rulers took back control of the country in August last year, promising a softer regime than their last term in power between 1996 and 2001, which was dominated by human rights abuses.
But they have increasingly restricted the rights of Afghans, especially girls and women, who have been prevented from returning to secondary school and many government jobs.
“I personally told a Taliban (guard) that it is more comfortable for me to travel in my car than to sit next to a taxi driver,” Shaima Wafa said as she bought Eid-ul-Fitr gifts for her family. went to a local market for
“I need to be able to take my family to the doctor in my car without waiting for my brother or husband to come home,” she said.
Naeem al-Haq Haqqani, head of the provincial information and culture department, said no official order had been given.
The Taliban has largely avoided issuing national, written decrees, instead allowing local officials to issue their own orders, sometimes verbally.
Yakubi, a female angel who has been driving for years, said, “None of the cars have it written that it belongs to men only.”
“Actually it is safer if a woman drives her own vehicle.”
Zainab Mohseni, 26, recently applied for a license as she says women feel safer in their cars than taxis run by male drivers.
For Mohseni, the latest decision is just a sign that the new regime will stop at nothing to prevent Afghan women from enjoying some of the rights they have been left behind.
“Gradually, the Taliban wants to gradually increase the ban on women,” she said.
While Afghanistan is a deeply conservative, patriarchal country, it is not uncommon for women to drive in large cities – especially Herat in the northwest, which has long been considered liberal by Afghan standards.
“We have been instructed to stop issuing licenses orally female driver But the city has not been instructed to stop women from driving.” Jan Aga AchkazaiHead of Herat’s Institute of Traffic Management, which oversees driving schools.
Adil Adeel, a 29-year-old female driving instructor who owns a training institute, said the Taliban want to ensure that the next generation does not have the same opportunities as their mothers.
“We were told not to give driving lessons and not to issue licences,” she said.
The rebel-rulers took back control of the country in August last year, promising a softer regime than their last term in power between 1996 and 2001, which was dominated by human rights abuses.
But they have increasingly restricted the rights of Afghans, especially girls and women, who have been prevented from returning to secondary school and many government jobs.
“I personally told a Taliban (guard) that it is more comfortable for me to travel in my car than to sit next to a taxi driver,” Shaima Wafa said as she bought Eid-ul-Fitr gifts for her family. went to a local market for
“I need to be able to take my family to the doctor in my car without waiting for my brother or husband to come home,” she said.
Naeem al-Haq Haqqani, head of the provincial information and culture department, said no official order had been given.
The Taliban has largely avoided issuing national, written decrees, instead allowing local officials to issue their own orders, sometimes verbally.
Yakubi, a female angel who has been driving for years, said, “None of the cars have it written that it belongs to men only.”
“Actually it is safer if a woman drives her own vehicle.”
Zainab Mohseni, 26, recently applied for a license as she says women feel safer in their cars than taxis run by male drivers.
For Mohseni, the latest decision is just a sign that the new regime will stop at nothing to prevent Afghan women from enjoying some of the rights they have been left behind.
“Gradually, the Taliban wants to gradually increase the ban on women,” she said.