The Taliban’s Directorate for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Herat province has instructed the local traffic authority to ban women from driving, according to an official letter obtained by local media.
The letter, signed by Sheikh Azizurrahman Muhajir, head of the directorate, claims that “women are incapable of learning to drive and have scattered minds.” It argues that driving is “an important and highly responsible profession” and that even minor mistakes could result in the loss of lives.
As a result, the Taliban has requested Herat’s traffic management office to prohibit women from driving in the city and on public roads, effective immediately.
The directive marks another setback for women’s rights in Afghanistan, where female drivers are already rare and often face harassment. Despite this, women are legally allowed to drive in nearly every country, and numerous studies show they tend to be safer drivers than men.
According to a report by The New York Times, British researchers analysing data from over 14,000 traffic fatalities between 2005 and 2015 found that men were significantly more likely than women to be at fault in fatal crashes. Male truck drivers were nearly four times more likely than female drivers to cause deadly accidents, and male motorcyclists were almost 12 times more likely than female riders to be responsible for fatalities.
Afghanistan has one of the highest traffic accident rates in the region. On Thursday, the Taliban’s General Directorate of Traffic reported 117 traffic incidents nationwide during the Eid holidays, resulting in 43 deaths and 158 injuries. Among the dead were 31 men, two women and 10 children.
Taliban forces in Herat have frequently harassed female drivers. Setayesh, a woman in the city, told Deutsche Welle that she had been subjected to repeated violence by Taliban officials while driving. She said women used to drive out of necessity, but since the Taliban returned to power, they have been told that no woman may leave home without a male guardian.
The Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice is the main body enforcing the Taliban’s increasingly restrictive policies on women. The ministry has previously banned women from accessing public parks, travelling without a male chaperone, and appearing in public without full-body coverings.
