Taliban block women from flight travel without male guardian

ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers refused to allow dozens of women to board several flights, including some overseas, because they were traveling without a male guardian, two Afghan airline officials said Saturday.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions from the Taliban, said dozens of women who arrived at Kabul’s international airport Friday to board domestic and international flights were told they couldn’t do so without a male guardian, reported foreign media.

Some of the women were dual nationals returning to their homes overseas, including some from Canada, according to one of the officials. Women were denied boarding on flights to Islamabad, Dubai and Turkey on Kam Air and the state-owned Ariana Airline, said the officials. The order came from the Taliban leadership, said one official.

By Saturday, some women traveling alone were given permission to board an Ariana Airlines flight to western Herat province, the official said. However, by the time the permission was granted they had missed their flight, he said.

The airport’s president and police chief, both from the Taliban movement and both Islamic clerics, were meeting Saturday with airline officials. It was still unclear whether the Taliban would exempt air travel from an order issued months ago requiring women traveling more than 45 miles to be accompanied by a male relative.

Taliban officials contacted by American news agency did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

This latest assault on women’s rights in Taliban-run Afghanistan denying women air travel, comes just days after the all-male religiously driven government broke its promise to allow girls to return to school after the sixth grade.

An Afghan charity called PenPath, which runs dozens of “secret’ schools with thousands of volunteers, is planning to stage countrywide protests to demand the Taliban reverse its order, said Matiullah Wesa, PenPath founder. On Saturday at the Doha Forum 2022 in

Qatar, Roya Mahboob, an Afghan businesswoman who founded an all-girl robotics team in Afghanistan, was given the Forum Award for her work and commitment to girls’ education.