Taliban ban women from visiting national parks

Since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan in 2021, women have been increasingly pushed out of the public eye. Now they are even banned from visiting a popular national park.

The radical Islamic Taliban have banned women from visiting one of the most popular national parks in Afghanistan. The Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue justified the latest ban on women in the country over the weekend by saying that visitors to Band-e-Amir Park violated the obligation to wear a headscarf.

Human rights activists condemned the ban. Human Rights Watch executive vice director of women’s rights Heather Barr said the decision was “cruel in a very deliberate way.” It’s not enough for the Taliban to “deprive girls and women of education, employment and freedom of movement; now they also want to take parks, sports and even nature away from them.” Step by step, “every home becomes a prison,” Barr said.

The Taliban are increasingly excluding women from society

Band-e-Amir Park in Bamyan province 175 kilometers west of Kabul is known for its striking blue lakes surrounded by towering cliffs. It is a popular destination for Afghans to relax on the shore or paddle on the lakes.

Since taking power in August 2021, the Taliban in Afghanistan have increasingly excluded girls and women from public life. They are denied access to education, their job opportunities have been massively curtailed, they are not allowed to visit parks, fairs and gyms, and they are not allowed to travel without a male guardian. In addition, women are forced to cover themselves in public. The UN speaks of a “gender apartheid”.

Thousands of beauty salons in Afghanistan were also forced to close in July. This deprived women of one of the few remaining opportunities to meet outside of the home.