Rights monitors condemn a ban on women visiting one of Afghanistan’s most popular national parks, the latest curb shutting women out of public life under Taliban government rule.
The Taliban government’s morality ministry closed the Band-e-Amir national park to women over the weekend, claiming female visitors were failing to cover up with proper Islamic dress.
The park, 175 kilometers (110 miles) west of Kabul, is renowned for its striking blue lakes surrounded by sweeping cliffs.
The Bamyan province park is a hugely popular spot for domestic tourism and is regularly swarmed with Afghans relaxing at the shore or paddling the waters in rented boats.
Human Rights Watch’s associate women’s rights director Heather Barr tells AFP the decision to ban women was “cruel in a very intentional way.”
“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,” she says in a separate statement.
“Step-by-step the walls are closing in on women as every home becomes a prison,” she says.
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