By Rukhshana Media
The Taliban’s Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice banned women from traveling farther than 78 km without a close male relative, a spokesman confirmed to Rukhshana Media on Sunday.
“According to Islamic Sharia, women who travel farther than 78 km, must be accompanied by a male Mahram,” said the ministry spokesman Sadeq Akif Muhajir, adding that there is no exception for widows and divorced women who do not have an immediate male relative. “They must have someone,” the spokesman insisted, “they have brothers or nephews.”
The ministry also asked drivers not to give rides to women who do not observe hijab. “Hijab [means] burqa and the long black dresses,” he confirmed.
“These are not limitations for women, it is for the protection of their honor,” Muhajir explained.
The Ministry of Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice has asked the drivers to implement the travel restriction on women who are traveling outside the province.
Since the Taliban took over the country in mid-August, the ministry which replaced the former Ministry of Women Affairs, has issued most of the restrictive and repressive regulations, banning the broadcast of movies and soap operas that feature women actors and enforcing hijab for women journalists working for local TV channels in late November.
