Afghan women traveling alone, boarding flights despite ban

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Afghan women appear to be defying orders by the Taliban.

An airport official says Afghan women unaccompanied by a male guardian have been allowed to board aircraft in the capital Kabul since Saturday.

That’s despite a Taliban order banning them from flying. There has been no official reversal of the order by the hard-liners in the Taliban leadership, who have been crafting increasingly repressive edicts.

A senior airport official told The Associated Press on Tuesday that it is business as usual for women traveling alone, a sign that at least some of the orders coming from a conflicted Taliban leadership are being ignored.

The Taliban has been turning back the clock on women’s rights since they took control of the country as the U.S. wrapped up its war in Afghanistan last year.

Girls have been banned from going to school beyond the sixth grade.

Those familiar with top Taliban circles say the radical changes were ordered by the Taliban’s supreme leader — and despite promises to the international community that this wouldn’t happen.

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