Afghanistan: In another diktat by the Taliban, authorities have now prohibited women from attending the Eid celebrations. This ban has been put out in two provinces of Afghanistan, reports said.
According to the Khaama press, women in Baghlan and Takhar have been prohibited from going out in groups during Eid-ul-Fitr.
Earlier this month, the Taliban authorities banned families and women from dining in establishments with gardens and outdoor space in the Herat region.
The Taliban authorities said that gender mingling and not wearing the headscarf were the reasons for such curbs.
Earlier this week, authorities said that they were going to close education centers and institutes supported by non-governmental groups in the south until further notice.
The centers are mostly for girls, who are banned from going to school beyond sixth grade.
The Education Ministry ordered the Taliban heartland provinces of Helmand and Kandahar to close education centers and institutes while a committee reviews their activities. It did not provide an explanation for the closures and a ministry spokesman was not immediately available for comment.
Mutawakil Ahmad, a spokesman for the Kandahar education department, confirmed that education centers' activities are suspended until further notice.
“The decision was made after people's complaints,” said Ahmad, without providing further details.
Despite initial promises of a more moderate rule than during their previous stint in power in the 1990s, the Taliban have imposed harsh measures since taking over the country in 2021 as U.S. and NATO forces were pulling out of Afghanistan after two decades of war.
The female education ban extends to universities. Women are barred from public spaces, including parks, and most forms of employment.
Last year, Afghan women were barred from working at national and local NGOs, allegedly because they weren't wearing the hijab, or Islamic headscarf, correctly and a gender segregation requirement wasn't being followed. This order also includes the United Nations.
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