The Taliban has ordered airlines not to board women unaccompanied by a man

Two sources said the organization had updated the airlines on the new restrictions, attacks on domestic and international flights.

It is not clear if there will be exceptions in emergencies or for women with dual citizenship.

The Taliban also withdrew from promising to allow girls to attend high school, and the United States canceled a meeting with its representatives

Reuters

27/03/2022

Sunday, 27 March 2022, 14:16 Updated: 14:33

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The Taliban's promises of change have not materialized.

Women queuing for bread distribution in Kabul, January (Photo: Reuters)

The Taliban has made it clear to airlines in Afghanistan that women can not fly on domestic or international flights unaccompanied by a man, two sources told Reuters today (Sunday).

This is after the organization, which controls Afghanistan, withdrew from its previous commitment to open high schools to girls, in a decision that shocked many Afghans and won condemnation from aid organizations and foreign governments.

Following the move, the United States canceled a scheduled meeting with Taliban representatives that was supposed to deal with important economic issues.

Sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons, said the Ministry of Morality and Sin Prevention - which serves as a sort of Taliban moral police - sent a letter to airlines yesterday, updating them on the new restrictions.

According to them, unaccompanied women who have already purchased airline tickets will be allowed to fly today and tomorrow.

They added that some women with plane tickets who arrived at Kabul airport yesterday were not allowed to fly.

Taliban officials have not yet commented on the matter.

A government spokesman recently said that women flying abroad would need to be accompanied by a male relative. The

Taliban claimed that they had changed since their previous rule, which lasted from 1996 to 2001 and that the regime banned women from studying, working or leaving home unaccompanied by a family member. The organization said it allowed women to exercise their rights under Afghan Sharia law and culture

, however, the closure of high schools alongside restrictions on working women and the requirement to accompany women on flights have drawn criticism from Afghan and human rights organizations. For women who do not live with relatives in the country or for foreign women with dual citizenship.

The Taliban captured the capital Kabul and ousted the pro-Western government in August, but the international community has not yet officially recognized its administration.

Afghanistan is in the midst of a severe humanitarian crisis due to the sharp cut in Western aid to a country that has experienced two decades of war until the withdrawal of foreign forces led by the United States.

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