Taliban ban women and families from eating in restaurants or strolling in parks
The Taliban administration has banned families and women from frequenting restaurants with large green spaces, such as gardens, in Afghanistan’s northwestern Herat province, where men and women can meet, even as the movement that seized power in August 2021 continues to impose restrictions on women under its rule.
Taliban repression
India Today reported that the latest move came as a result of several complaints by religious scholars and the public about the mixing of sexes in such places, according to an official. The movement issued a ban on open-air eating that only applies to parks and restaurants in Herat, where the places are open to men, and restrictions have been imposed because women do not wear the hijab properly, according to the authorities.
Baz Muhammad Nazir, a deputy official at the Ministry of Virtue in Herat, said that not all restaurants were banned from families and women, while denying media reports of this as “propaganda,” according to an Associated Press report.
The official said the ban was limited to restaurants with green spaces, such as gardens, where men and women could meet. “After repeated complaints from scholars and ordinary people, we have set limits and closed these restaurants,” he said.
“It was like a garden but they named it a restaurant and the men and women were together and thank God it has now been fixed,” said Aziz Rahman Muhajir, head of Herat’s department of public morals and virtue. “Our auditors also monitor all the parks where men and women go.”
In addition, Nazeer also denied reports that sales of foreign DVDs of films, music and television programs in Herat were being banned, and the AP report said that he had allegedly advised shopkeepers not to sell such material as it was contrary to Islamic values.
“Nazeer said shop owners who did not abide by the rules saw their shops closed, and denied reports of internet cafes in Herat closing, and explained that children were prevented from playing games because of inappropriate content.”
The daily added that the statements of Afghan officials contradict the repression of women and children on the ground, which has reached unprecedented levels. It has become rare to see women roaming the streets or working as employees in government institutions and departments. The Taliban movement, which seized power after the withdrawal of US-led forces from Afghanistan after two decades of war, has tightened restrictions on women’s freedom.
