Taliban Has Verbally Asked Driving Instructors In Herat, Afghanistan To Not Give Licenses To Women
I believe that even in a country as patriarchal as India, we don’t understand the kind of basic rights we get which are considered to be privileges by women in other countries. For example, while Afghanistan is a very deeply patriarchal country, it is not uncommon for women in big cities to be driving; mainly in Herat, which is considered to be pretty liberal by Afghan standards. However, Taliban officials of the city have told driving instructors in Herat to not give driving licenses to women anymore.
Jan Agha Achakzai, the head of the Traffic Management Institute of Herat has said that they have been verbally instructed not to give female drivers licenses anymore. However, women are not prohibited from driving in the city. A 29-year-old driving instructor who also owns a driving school named Adila Adeel has said that the Taliban wishes to ensure that the future generation of women will not be given the same opportunities and privileges that their mothers got. She claims that they were told to neither issue driving licenses nor give driving lessons.
Taliban previously were ruling over Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001; a rule that was dominated by human abuse and rights violations. However, they took over the country again promising a softer rule. However, they have kept increasing the restrictions on Afghanistan, especially the women, who have been refused entry into secondary schools and many government jobs.
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A woman named Shaima Wafa said that she personally told a Taliban guard that she feels more comfortable driving herself than sitting next to a male cab driver. She further added that if she needs to take her family for medical emergencies, she shouldn’t have to wait for her husband or brother. Another local woman named Fereshteh Yaqoobi, who has been driving for years said that no cat says that it is only for men and it is safer for women to drive their own vehicles.
On a similar note, Zainab Mohseni also said that she has just applied for her own license as it is safer for women to drive their own cars as compared to being in taxis with male taxi drivers. Mohseni believes that this new verbal rule by the Taliban is just indicative of the fact that they will prevent women from enjoying the little freedom and few rights they have left. According to NDTV, she claimed, “Slowly, slowly the Taliban want to increase the restrictions on women.”
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Naim al-Haq Haqqani who is the head of the provincial information and culture department has claimed that no official notice as such has been circulated. However, the Taliban refrains from issuing official statements and national written decrees and allows local authorities to issue their own edicts, verbally.
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