Afghanistan women attempts to defend right to drive as Taliban curb licences

Afghanistan’s Taliban officials have told driving instructors to stop issuing licences to women, professionals from the sector told AFP. While Afghanistan is deeply conservative, it is not uncommon for women to drive in larger cities.

“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.

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News agency AFP reported Adila Adeel, a 29-year-old woman driving instructor who owns a training institute and 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.

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The insurgents-turned-rulers seized back control of the country in August 2021, 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.

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The Taliban have largely refrained from issuing national, written decrees, instead allowing local authorities to issue their own edicts, sometimes verbally.