Women are no longer allowed to fly without a male relative

In Afghanistan, the Taliban have ordered airlines to refuse to board women unless they are accompanied by a male relative. The information was confirmed this Sunday by Ariana Afghan Airlines and Kam Air.

The decision was taken after a meeting between representatives of the Taliban, these two airlines and the immigration authorities at Kabul airport. A letter sent by a senior Ariana Afghan Airlines official to her staff confirms these new instructions which apply to all flights: “No woman is allowed to fly on domestic or international flights without a male relative. »

A proliferation of bans on women

“Some women who were traveling without a male relative were not allowed to board a flight” this Friday, said a passenger on the same plane. An Afghan woman with a US passport was also not allowed to board a flight to Dubai on the same day.

At the end of December, the Taliban already banned women from making trips of more than 72 km in the country if they were not accompanied by a close family member. This new restriction comes days after the Taliban decided to close secondary schools for girls, just after they reopened.

This Sunday, the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice also ordered the separation of women and men in public parks in Kabul, establishing visitation days for each sex. Since coming to power, the Taliban have increased this type of restriction. Women are barred from many government jobs, restricted in how they dress, and banned from traveling alone outside their towns.