Officials, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of Taliban repression, said dozens of women who arrived at Kabul International Airport on Friday to board domestic and international flights said they could not do so without a male guardian. Some of the women were dual nationals returning to their homes abroad, including some from Canada, according to one official. The women did not board flights to Islamabad, Dubai and Turkey with Kam Air and state-owned Ariana Airline, officials said. The order came from the Taliban leadership, an official said. As of Saturday, some women traveling alone had been allowed to board an Ariana Airlines flight in the western province of Herat, the official said. However, by the time the permit was issued they had lost their flight, he said. The president and airport police chief, both from the Taliban movement and Islamist clerics, met with airline officials on Saturday. “They are trying to solve it,” the official said. It was not yet clear whether the Taliban would exempt air travel from an order issued months ago that women traveling more than 72 kilometers must be accompanied by a male relative. Taliban officials contacted by the Associated Press did not respond to requests for comment. Since taking power last August, the Taliban leadership has been at loggerheads over the transition from war to government. He confronts hardliners – such as incumbent Prime Minister Mullah Hassan Ahud, who is deeply rooted in the old guard – against the most realistic among them, such as Sirajuddin Haqqani. He took over the leadership of the powerful Haqqani network from Jalaluddin Haqanni’s father. Elder Haqqani, who died several years ago, is from the Akhund dynasty, who ruled Afghanistan under the strict and unquestionable leadership of Mullah Mohammad Omar. Many Afghans are outraged by the fact that many of the younger generation of Taliban, such as Sirajuddin Haqqani, are training their girls in Pakistan, while in Afghanistan women and girls have been the target of repressive orders since taking office. The latest Taliban-led attack on women’s rights in Afghanistan, which denies women air travel, comes days after the religiously-led government broke its promise to allow girls to return to school after sixth grade. The move has angered the international community, which has been reluctant to recognize the Taliban government since the Taliban came to power last August, fearing they would return to their brutal rule in the 1990s. The Taliban refuse to open education to all the children of Afghanistan also infuriated large sections of the Afghan population. On Saturday, dozens of girls protested in the Afghan capital demanding the right to go to school. Following the Taliban ban on girls’ education outside of sixth grade, women’s rights activist Mahbouba Seraj went to TOLO TV in Afghanistan to ask: “How do we, as a nation, now trust your words? What should we do to thank you? Should we all die? “ An Afghan charity called PenPath, which runs dozens of “secret” schools with thousands of volunteers, plans to stage nationwide protests to demand that the Taliban withdraw their mandate, said Matiullah Wesa, founder of PenPath. At the Doha 2022 Forum in Qatar on Saturday, Roya Mahboob, an Afghan businesswoman who founded a robotics team exclusively for girls in Afghanistan, received the Forum Award for her work and commitment to girls’ education. US Special Representative for Afghanistan Tom West canceled meetings with the Taliban at the Doha Forum after classes for older girls were suspended. US State Department spokeswoman Jalina Porter said in a statement: “We have canceled some of our commitments, including scheduled meetings in and around the Doha Forum, and we have made it clear that we see this decision as a possible turning point in our commitment. “The Taliban’s decision, if not overturned quickly, will deeply hurt the Afghan people, the country’s economic growth prospects and the Taliban’s ambition to improve their relations with the international community,” he said. West acknowledged that the Taliban had made promises since allowing girls and women to go to school. He said both the US and the international community had received the “necessary assurances” that this was going to happen. “I was surprised by the recovery last Wednesday and I think you have seen people react by condemning this move,” West said. “It’s a violation, first and foremost, of the Afghan people’s confidence because of their commitment.” He added: “I believe that hope is not lost. I’ve talked to a lot of Afghans here who believe that too. “I hope we will see a reversal of this decision in the coming days.” In an interview after receiving the Doha Forum award, Mahboob called on the many world leaders and policymakers present at the forum to press the Taliban to open schools for all children in Afghanistan. The robotics team left Afghanistan when the Taliban returned to power, but Mahboob said he still hoped a science and technology center could be built that he hoped to build in Afghanistan for girls. “I hope the international community, the Muslim communities (have not) forgotten Afghanistan and (will not) leave us,” he said. “Afghanistan is a poor country. It does not have enough resources. “And if you take away our knowledge, I do not know what will happen.”
Associated Press writer Lujain Jo in Doha, Qatar, contributed to this report.
