According to two Afghan airline officials, the Taliban overlords in Afghanistan refused to let hundreds of women board flights, including some overseas, since they were traveling without a male guardian. The authorities said, hundreds of women arrived at Kabul International Airport on March 25, 2022, were about to board domestic and international flights, they couldn’t let them fly without a male guardian, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid Taliban retaliation. The article is about Taliban Pressurizing Women From Flying Alone.
Following the condition, women were denied boarding on Kam Air and the state-owned Ariana Airline flights to Islamabad, Dubai, and Turkey. However, officials informed that the order came from the Taliban leadership. According to the source, several ladies traveling alone had been granted permission to board an Ariana Airlines trip to western Herat province by March 26, 2022. However, he claimed they had missed their trip by the time the authorization was issued. On the day, the airport’s president and police commander, both Taliban members and Islamic clerics, met with airline officials.
It was unclear whether the Taliban would exempt air travel from an order issued months ago requiring women to be accompanied by a male relative while traveling more than 45 miles. The Taliban did not respond to several requests for comment from The Associated Press. Since assuming control in August, the Taliban leadership has been arguing among themselves as they try to shift from war to governance.
It has pitted hardliners against the more pragmatic among them, such as acting Prime Minister Mullah Hasan Akhund, who is deeply anchored in the old guard. He succeeded his father, Jalaluddin Haqqani, as chief of the powerful Haqqani Network. The elder Haqqani, who died a few years ago, was from Akhund’s generation, who dominated Afghanistan under Mullah Mohammad Omar’s stern and unquestioned reign.
Many Afghans are enraged that many of the Taliban’s younger generation, such as Sirajuddin Haqqani, are teaching their daughters in Pakistan, while women and girls have been targeted by their restrictive edicts in Afghanistan since they took power. This latest assault on women’s rights in Taliban-run Afghanistan comes days after the all-male religiously driven administration abandoned its commitment to allow girls to return to school after sixth grade.
The move infuriated the international world, hesitant to acknowledge the Taliban-run government since the Taliban surged to power last August, fearing a return to the 1990s’ brutal rule. In addition, large sections of the Afghan populace were enraged by the Taliban’s reluctance to provide education to all Afghan youngsters. Hundreds of Afghan girls rallied in Kabul, demanding the opportunity to attend school.
“How do we as a society trust you with your words anymore? So what can we do to make you happy? Should all of us die?”, Afghan journalist and women’s right activist, Mahbouba Seraj asked on Afghanistan’s TV channel after the Taliban’s ban on females’ education beyond sixth grade. According to Matiullah Wesa, the founder of the Afghan organization PenPath, which runs dozens of “hidden” schools with hundreds of volunteers, countrywide protests are planned to demand the Taliban reconsider its decision.
Roya Mahboob, an Afghan businesswoman who formed an all-girl robotics team in Afghanistan, received the Forum Award for her efforts and commitment to girl’s education at the Doha Forum 2022 in Qatar. After classes for older females were discontinued, US special representative for Afghanistan Tom West postponed negotiations with the Taliban at the Doha Forum.
“We have canceled some of our engagements, including planned meetings in Doha and surrounding the Doha Forum,” Deputy US State Department spokesman Jalina Porter said in a statement, “and have made clear that we consider this decision as a potential turning point in our engagement.”
“If the Taliban’s decision is not overturned quickly, it will severely affect the Afghan people, the country’s economic prospects, and the Taliban’s desire to restore relations with the international community,” she warned. Ms. Mahboob called on the many world leaders and policymakers attending the Doha Forum to press the Taliban to open schools for all Afghan children in an interview after winning the Doha Forum award. When the Taliban retook power in Afghanistan, the robotics team fled, but she expressed hope that the science and technology center she had intended to develop for Afghan girls could still be built.
“I hope the international community, particularly the Muslim populations, has not forgotten about Afghanistan and will not desert us,” she said. “Afghanistan is an impoverished nation. It lacks the necessary resources. And I’m not sure what will happen if you take away our knowledge.”
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