A Taliban fighter stands guard in an amusement park,in Kabul,Afghanistan,on Thursday. Women are now banned from parks and gyms as well.Credit:AP
A spokesman from the Ministry of Virtue and Vice said the new gym and park ban was being introduced because people were ignoring gender segregation orders and that women were not wearing the required headscarf,or hijab.
The ban came into force this week,according to Mohammed Akef Mohajer.
Afghan women stand outside an amusement park,in Kabul,Afghanistan,on Thursday.Credit:AP
He claimed the Taliban had “tried its best” over the past 15 months to avoid closing parks and gyms for women,ordering separate days of the week for male and female access or imposing gender segregation.
“But,unfortunately,the orders were not obeyed and the rules were violated,and we had to close parks and gyms for women,” said Mohajer. “In most cases,we have seen both men and women together in parks and,unfortunately,the hijab was not observed. So we had to come up with another decision and for now we ordered all parks and gyms to be closed for women.”
Taliban teams would begin monitoring establishments to check if women were still using them,he said.