Taliban tells driving schools in Afghanistan to put the brakes on giving licenses to women drivers
- Since returning to power, the Taliban have been restricting the rights of female Afghans, preventing them from returning to schools and many government jobs
- Several female drivers say it is more convenient to drive themselves than to wait for a male family member to come home and drive them
Taliban officials in Afghanistan’s most progressive city have told driving instructors to stop issuing licences to women, professionals from the sector told Agence France-Presse.
While Afghanistan is a deeply conservative, patriarchal country, it is not uncommon for women to drive in larger cities – particularly Herat in the northwest, which has long been considered liberal by Afghan standards.
“We have been verbally instructed to stop issuing licences to women drivers … but not directed to stop women from driving in the city,” said Jan Agha Achakzai, the head of Herat’s Traffic Management Institute that oversees driving schools.
Adila Adeel, a 29-year-old woman driving instructor who owns a training institute said the Taliban want to ensure that the next generation will not have the same opportunities as their mothers
“We were told not to offer driving lessons and not to issue licences,” she said.
The insurgents-turned-rulers seized back control of the country in August last year, promising a softer rule than their last stint in power between 1996 and 2001, which was dominated by human rights abuses.
But they have increasingly restricted the rights of Afghans, particularly girls and women who have been prevented from returning to secondary school and many government jobs.