Rights groups criticize Taliban’s new restrictions on women’s education, movement

Human rights groups have condemned the Taliban’s latest restrictions on Afghan women’s education and movement after it barred them from visiting one of Afghanistan’s most popular national parks and stopped them from leaving for the United Arab Emirates to study on academic scholarships.

Khalaf Ahmad al-Habtoor, head of Dubai-based Al Habtoor Group, tweeted that Taliban authorities had stopped about 100 women from travelling to the UAE, where he said he had sponsored their university educations and paid for their accommodation, transportation, and security needs.

After women were barred from visiting parks, fairs and gyms, the United Nations special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, criticized these restrictions on Sunday, and asked in a social media post: “Why is this restriction necessary to comply with Sharia and Afghan culture?”

HRW Associate Women’s Rights Director Heather Barr told AFP the decision to ban women was “cruel in a very intentional way”, adding that “Step-by-step, the walls are closing in on women as every home becomes a prison,”.