The Taliban regime in Afghanistan has stopped issuing driving licenses to women in Kabul and other provinces, media reports said. The ban comes at a time when the country suffers from a devastating humanitarian crisis, with an acute shortage of food and other essential supplies.
Before the Taliban takeover, women in Afghanistan could be seen driving in some of the major cities of the country including Kabul. However, the Taliban has now stopped distributing driving licenses to women, local media said.
While Afghanistan is a deeply conservative, patriarchal country, it is not uncommon for women to drive in larger cities -- particularly Herat in the northwest, which has long been considered liberal by Afghan standards.
Taliban rule has had a devastating impact on Afghan women and girls, new research shows, Human Rights Watch and the Human Rights Institute at San Jose State University (SJSU) said today. The organizations looked at the conditions for women since the Taliban took control in Ghazni province, in southeastern Afghanistan.
Since taking control of the city of Ghazni on August 12, 2021, days before entering Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, the Taliban have imposed rights-violating policies that have created huge barriers to women’s and girls’ health and education, curtailed freedom of movement, expression, and association, and deprived many of earned income.
Afghanistan’s rapidly escalating humanitarian crisis exacerbates these abuses. Following the Taliban takeover, millions of dollars in lost income, spiking prices, aid cut-offs, a liquidity crisis, and cash shortages triggered by former donor countries, especially the United States, have deprived much of the population of access to food, water, shelter, and health care.
The Taliban have banned women and girls from secondary and higher education, and altered curricula to focus more on religious studies. They dictate what women must wear, how they should travel, workplace segregation by sex, and even what kind of cell phones women should have. They enforce these rules through intimidation and inspections.
Immediately after the 2021 Taliban offensive, all universities became sex-segregated all over the country. The last time the Taliban was in power, girls and women were forbidden from pursuing an education. During the August offensive, women were advised by the Taliban to stay at home because their soldiers were not trained to respect women.
In March 2022, the Taliban abruptly reversed plans to allow girls to resume secondary school education (defined as grade seven and up in Afghanistan).
With the exception of the current cohort of university students, this decision leaves graduating from sixth grade as the highest level of educational attainment possible for Afghan women. Secondary schools for boys reopened on schedule.
