Afghanistan: National and international organizations react to Taliban banning women from Band-e-Amir National Park

Kabul [Afghanistan], August 28 (ANI): The national and international organizations raised concerns following the ban on Afghan women from visiting Band-e-Amir National Park in Bamiyan province of Afghanistan, reported TOLO News on Monday. 
Mohammad Khaled Hanafi, the acting Minister of Virtue and Vice, urged all religious clerics and security agencies to forbid women from visiting Band-e-Amir National Park during a meeting in Bamiyan province of Afghanistan. 
Meanwhile, the director of Women's Rights Division at Human Rights Watch Heather Barr said that the Taliban have taken away the essential rights of women from them. 
She further said, “This latest order by the Taliban instructing that women are not to go to Band-e-Amir is part of a pattern where the Taliban are step by step and quickly taking away from women everything that they need for their lives."
In a protest to ban women from visiting the Band-e-Amir National Park, Richard Bennett, United Nations Special Rapporteur for Afghan human rights said, "Can someone please explain why this restriction on women visiting Bande Amir is necessary to comply with Sharia and Afghan culture?"
Moreover, a women's rights activist Tafseer Siah Posh hoped that there would be a motive behind Taliban's ban on women from visiting Band-e-Amir National Park. 
“We are witnessing an increasing restriction on women. We hope the Islamic Emirate would have a motive for why women are banned from Band-e-Amir National Park,” said Posh. 
Safa, a resident of Kabul raised concerns and said, "As long as we see, the restrictions have been increasing on a daily basis. We call on the Islamic Emirate to bring facilities for the women."
As the Taliban's atrocities continue to add to the miseries of the women in Afghanistan, the organisation has banned women from visiting Band-e-Amir National Park in Afghanistan’s central Bamyan province in another regressive move, according to Khaama Press.
Mohammad Khalid Hanafi, the Taliban's Minister for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, stated in a speech in Bamyan that they are creating a mechanism that will eventually allow women to enter the park.
However, until the system is established, women are not permitted to enter the park, reported Khaama Press.
The Taliban continues to impose further restrictions on women's rights despite significant international pressure and pleas from human rights organisations and aid organisations.
The organisation reintroduced a strict ban on girls attending secondary schools after seizing control in August 2021. The depressing trend continued in December 2022, when limitations were expanded to include women and girls, prohibiting them from attending universities and from working for non-governmental organisations and assistance organisations, Khaama Press reported.
They now forbid women from entering theme parks, travelling alone without a male companion, and even using public restrooms. (ANI)