KABUL: Afghan women were stopped from entering amusement parks in Kabul on Wednesday after the Taliban’s morality ministry said there would be restrictions on women being able to access public parks.
A spokesperson for the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (MPVPV) confirmed that women would be restricted from accessing parks when asked for comment by Reuters, but did not respond to requests to provide further details.
It was not clear how widely the restrictions applied or how they affected a previous rule from the MPVPV saying parks, including open-air spaces, must be segregated by gender and certain days would be aside for women.
Bilal Karimi, a deputy spokesperson for the Taliban administration, did not respond to a request for comment.
At a Kabul amusement park containing rides such as bumper cars and a Ferris wheel, Reuters witnesses observed several women being turned away by park officials, with Taliban agents present observing the situation.
Masooma, a Kabul resident who asked that only her first name be published for security reasons, had planned to take her grandchild to visit the park but was turned away.
“When a mother comes with their children, they must be allowed to enter the park, because these children haven’t seen anything good ... they must play and be entertained,” she told Reuters. “I urged a lot to them, but they didn’t allow us to get inside the park, and now we are returning home.”
Two park operators, who asked to remain anonymous to speak on a sensitive matter, said they had been told by Taliban officials not to allow women to enter their parks.
Since taking over Afghanistan last year, Taliban have said women should not leave the home without a male relative and must cover their faces, though some women in urban centers ignore the rule and some women have been permitted to work in government offices. The group also made a U-turn on signals it would open all girls’ high schools in March.
Western governments have said the group needs to reverse its course on women’s rights for any path toward formal recognition of the Taliban government.
The Taliban say they respect women’s rights in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic law.
Women stopped from entering amusement parks in Afghan capital
https://arab.news/y86qx
Women stopped from entering amusement parks in Afghan capital
- It was not clear how widely the restrictions applied
- Bilal Karimi, a deputy spokesperson for the Taliban administration, did not respond to a request for comment
Trump ‘very disappointed’ with UK’s Starmer for blocking use of air bases, Telegraph says
- UK PM then said bases could be used in “defensive” operations
- Trump says it took “too long” for Starmer to change his mind
LONDON: Donald Trump said he was “very disappointed” with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer for not allowing the US to use the Diego Garcia air base to carry out strikes on Iran, the Daily Telegraph quoted the US president as saying in an interview.
Britain had reportedly initially denied the US permission to conduct air strikes from its bases, but on Sunday evening Starmer said he was accepting a request for their use in any “defensive” strikes the US wanted to make against Iranian targets.
In an interview published on Monday Trump told the British newspaper that it took “too long” for Starmer to change his mind.
“That’s probably never happened between our countries before,” he told the Telegraph, adding: “It sounds like he was worried about the legality.”
Trump said Starmer should have approved from the get-go the American use of Diego Garcia — a strategically important US-UK air base in the Indian Ocean — saying Iran was responsible for killing “a lot of people from your country.”
Britain was not involved in the joint US-Israel air strikes on Iran that killed the country’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Saturday.
Since attacks on Iran started on Saturday, Iran has been targeting Gulf countries with missiles, and on Sunday an Iranian-made drone hit Britain’s RAF Akrotiri base in Cyprus, causing limited damage and no casualties.
Trump said it was “useful” that the US would now be able to launch operations from Diego Garcia, as he also criticized a deal Starmer has made over the sovereignty of the Chagos Islands, where Diego Garcia is based.
