Women are now banned from entering one of Afghanistan’s most popular national parks, after the Taliban announced that women had not been observing the mandatory hijab-wearing rules inside the park.
Afghanistan’s acting minister of virtue and vice, Mohammad Khaled Hanafi claimed that religious clerics in the Bamiyan province — where Band-e-Amir national park is located, were seeing women visiting without their hijabs.
According to Afghan agency Tolo News, Mohammad Khalid Hanafi said, “Going to sightsee is not obligatory for women,” and instructed security personnels to refuse women from entry into the park.
Head of the Bamiyan Shia Ulema Council, Sayed Nasrullah Waezi, said there were “complaints about lack of hijab or bad hijab, these are not Bamiyan residents. They come here from other places.”
Afghan former MP Mariam Solaimankhil shared a poem on her socials, declaring, “We’ll return, I’m sure of it”.
A number of Human Rights Watch advocates have condemned the decision, including researcher Fereshta Abbasi, who said the ban is a “total disrespect to the women of Afghanistan”.
“We will go back to this place one day and conquer your misogynist minds,” she added.
Interim co-director of the Women’s Rights Division at Human Rights Watch Heather Barr said, “I’ve heard more than one Afghan woman talk about how next the Taliban won’t allow them to breathe.”
“That sounds very hyperbolic until you see them doing things like actually trying to stop women from being outdoors and enjoying nature. Step by step the walls are closing in on women as every home becomes a prison.”
“It’s a magical place to go because you see families laughing and picnicking and enjoying themselves. And that’s what the Taliban have just taken away – the ability of families to enjoy a day out together, with the women in the family being part of that.”
UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett wrote on his socials, “Can someone please explain why this restriction on women visiting Band-e-Amir is necessary to comply with sharia and Afghan culture?”
Band-e-Amir national park, described by Unesco as a “naturally created group of lakes with special geological formations and structure, as well as natural and unique beauty,” became the country’s first national park in 2009.
It has since become a significant tourist site, drawing thousands of people each year. In 2013, the park became a symbol of change for women’s employment when it hired female park rangers — a first for the country.
The ban on women visitors is the latest addition to a long list of restrictions the Taliban have imposed on women.
Last month, beauty salons were forced to close. Since rising to power in 2021, the Taliban have enforced a number of measures that have prohibited women and girls from participating in everyday life, including going to school, participating in sports, attending universities and travelling alone.