Taliban bans women from visiting Afghanistan national park

‘Going sightseeing is not a must for women’, Taliban minister says

Taliban members paddle in a boat as they and Afghan families enjoy a visit to one of the lakes in Band-e Amir national park, a popular week-end destination (Getty Images)

The Taliban has banned women from visiting one of Afghanistan’s most popular national parks.

Afghanistan’s acting minister of virtue and vice , Mohammad Khaled Hanafi, said women have not been observing the proper way to wear the hijab while visiting the park.

The minister said that security forces will be used to stop women from going to Band-e-Amir in Bamiyan province. “Going sightseeing is not a must for women”, Mr Hanafi has said.

Heather Barr, at Human Rights Watch, condemned the move, saying “walls are closing in on women” in Afghanistan.

Afghan families and Taliban members visit one of the lakes in Band-e Amir national park, a popular week-end destination, on August 12, 2022 (Getty Images)

She added: “Not content with depriving girls and women of education, employment and free movement, the Taliban also want to take from them parks and sport and now even nature, as we see from this latest ban on women visiting Band-e-Amir.”

Last November, the Taliban-led government barred women from using public spaces, including parks, saying that they were not wearing the hijab correctly or following gender segregation rules.

Since taking over the country on August 15, 2021, after the withdrawal of US and Nato forces, they have imposed several restrictions targeting Afghan girls and women, including stopping girls from going to school beyond the sixth grade, and prohibiting Afghan women from jobs at local and non-governmental organisations while cracking down on media.

Taliban members paddle in a boat in Band-e-Amir (Getty Images)

Families visit the park in August 2022 (Getty Images)

These harsh measures triggered a fierce international outrage, including from Muslim-majority countries.

Band-e-Amir is a major tourist attraction in Bamiyan. It became the country’s first national park in 2009 and pulls in thousands of visitors every year.

It is a major source of income for locals and their sightseeing, restaurant, hotel and handicraft businesses.

Agencies contributed to this report.