By: Somaya Mandgar
Taliban forces in Bamyan are cracking down on women’s travel, asking for proof of family ties from male chaperones and refusing women who travel alone from entering the city at some checkpoints.
The new push is an affront to the central province’s culture and practices before the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021. Bamyan was known in Afghanistan for women having more personal freedom and autonomy than their Pashtun counterparts in southern and eastern Afghanistan.
The crackdown is also taking a personal toll on the women on the receiving end of the Taliban’s zealotry.
Sima Azizi*, 47, has not been able to return to her home in Pol-e-Khomri of Baghlan province after visiting her daughter in Bamyan because of an issue proving her chaperone, or mahram, was her son-in-law.
“When I wanted to return to Pol-e-Khomri again, my son-in-law said that the Taliban are asking women for their mahram or male chaperone, and checking marriage certificates at every checkpoint,” she says.
Sima was stuck in Bamyan they can secure proper documentation “May God destroy the Taliban who triples our problems,” she says.
At city entrances and inner-city checkpoints, the Taliban are asking men and women who are travelling together for their tazkera (national ID card) or a Nikah Khat (marriage certificate).
The Taliban passed a decree in December 2021 against women travelling long distances alone, but the permitted distance has become increasingly arbitrary.
Women told Rukhshana Media they have experienced harassment by Taliban morality police or forces at checkpoints even when simply moving around Bamyan city.
“Taliban vice and virtue police carefully check whether women are without a mahram or not,” Sediqa Sadiqi*, 26, says of an inspection checkpoint near Mirhashem tomb. “If you cannot prove that you have a mahram with you, you will not be allowed to enter the city.”
Ms Siddiqa says local Taliban forces seem more aggressive since the Taliban’s acting Minister of Vice and Virtue visited the province two months ago.
“Going sightseeing is not a must for women,” Mr Hanafi said at the time.
Ms Siddiqa says Bamyan’s reputation in Afghanistan is still that women have more freedom, but the reality is far from it. “When we call our relatives in other provinces, they still think that the situation in Bamyan is very good and the Taliban don’t impose many restrictions,” she says. “But what we see is that their strictness is increasing every day.”
Adding to the problem is that the distribution of marriage certificates is slow, so people cannot prove their family status when asked by Taliban forces while travelling.
Farida Moosawi*, 34 saiys when she was travelling with her husband and children in their family car during the spring, they were questioned by the Taliban at the Aqrobat checkpoint.
“One of them asked my husband, ‘What is this woman to you?’ My husband replied ‘She is my wife.’ The man asked, ‘Do you have a marriage certificate?’ My husband said again, ’She is my wife and these four are my children.’ The man yelled, ‘I asked about marriage certificate, not children,’” Ms Moosawi says.
“My husband said helplessly that we don’t have a marriage certificate because the distribution of marriage certificates is currently halted and we didn’t have one before.”
They were threatened not to be found without one again, but were eventually allowed to continue on their way.
Somaiya Saberi* is a shopkeeper in one of the markets of Bamyan. She makes weekly business trips to the handicraft market in Yakawlang. But the journey through the Taliban’s checkpoint in Aqrobat is becoming increasingly stressful.
Whereas before she would travel alone, now she has to find a male chaperone in order not to be harassed. Always having a family member is difficult, but it’s necessary as the Taliban check all documents and may punish you if you travel with a man who is not a relative.
“Every time we get there, they ask me who is your mahram? When I mention the man who is with me, they say, if you are husband and wife, show your marriage certificate, and if you are siblings, show your ID.”
The 27-year-old says that now when she arrives at the checkpoint, the most important one on the way to Bamyan-Yakawlang, her body trembles with fear.
“Honestly, passing there has become a nightmare for me,” she says. “Even when I think of going to Yakawlang, my body gets heavy.”
Dawood*, 33, only managed to get an approved marriage certificate a month ago – four years after his marriage.
“When the previous government fell and the Taliban regained power, I applied to get a marriage certificate for myself and my wife about four months later. When I went to the court, they said that the distribution of marriage certificates has been halted.”
After another three months, Dawood heard that the distribution of the certificates had restarted. “On April 30, I heard that the distribution has started again. But when I went to obtain that, they said that they only accept marriage certificate applications on Saturdays.”
Three weeks later, Dawood managed to submit his petition. He finally received the certificate two years after his marriage. “Getting a marriage certificate, which we are asked every day at checkpoints, is not easy at all,” he says.
“On one hand, they ask people for a marriage certificate every day, but on the other, they have made it so difficult that you have to chase it for two years.”
* Names are changed due to security reasons.
