The Taliban have now banned Afghan women from parks and gardens in Kabul, one of the last spaces of freedom to which they were entitled with the severe restrictions imposed by the fundamentalist Islamist regime.
Earlier this week, the Taliban ordered parks and gardens officials to close their doors to women, as AFP journalists in the capital saw. Until now, differentiated hours and days had been introduced so that men and women did not cross paths.
“In many places, the rules have been violated,” spokesman for the Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, Mohammad Akif Sadeq Mohajir, told AFP on Wednesday. “There was a mix and the hijab (veil covering the head and neck) was not respected. That is why such a decision has been taken at this time,” he continued.
Seated at a restaurant in Kabul with a view of a city park, Wahida watches, wearily, her children playing through the windows because she cannot accompany them.
“There is no school, no work, we should at least have a place to have fun”, confides to AFP the disappointed mother, who has just been turned away at the entrance.
Since their return to power in August 2021 after 20 years of war and the withdrawal of American troops, the Taliban have imposed an ultra-rigorous interpretation of Islam. They constantly restricted women’s freedoms, banning them from secondary schools and ordering them to wear the full veil. Excluded from most public jobs, women are also prevented from traveling alone outside their town.
The parks were one of the last areas of freedom still granted to them.
“We need a place to have fun, our mental health depends on it. We are tired of staying at home all day, we are tired of it all,” says Wahida, who is unemployed like her husband.
At the next table, Raihana, 21, accompanied by her sisters shares the same bitterness. “We were very excited to come to this park. We are tired of staying at home, ”explains the young girl who enjoys an ice cream before having to leave.
A student of Islamic law, she is offended by this new turn of the screw: “Obviously in Islam it is allowed to go out and visit parks”.
“Allowed to be joyful”
Several kilometers away, on the heights of Kabul, the big wheel of the most important park in Afghanistan is also at a standstill, like the swings, the rail car circuits and other rides that brightened up the immense complex. impregnable.
Only a handful of men walk nonchalantly in the silent alleys of the Zazaï park created more than six years ago. Before Taliban restrictions, it could accommodate up to 15,000 visitors on a weekend day.
Annoyed, the co-manager does not understand this decision which condemns him to end his activity, in which some 11 million dollars have been invested and which supports some 250 employees.
“Without women, the children will not come alone,” notes Habib Jan Zazaï. “I would have liked the Taliban to give us convincing reasons,” he laments, explaining that many mothers used to organize parties there in previous years.
“In Islam you are allowed to be joyful. Islam does not allow people to be imprisoned in their homes,” said the 30-year-old.
“With such decisions, they will discourage investors and without entrepreneurs who pay taxes how can they function? “, points out Habib.
Professor in a Koranic school in the city of Kandahar, stronghold of the Taliban, Mohammad Tamim, 20, who is sipping tea with his friends in the park, also condemns “this bad news”.
“Each human psychologically needs to be entertained, to study… Muslims need to be entertained especially after 20 years of war,” he insists.