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.
Women were already facing travel restrictions
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 angered the international community, which has been reluctant to recognize the Taliban government since the Taliban took power last August, fearing a return to their harsh rule in the 1990s. The Taliban refuse to open education to all the children of Afghanistan also angered large sections of the Afghan population. On Saturday, dozens of girls protested in the Afghan capital demanding the right to go to school.
