Gender mixing is…: Taliban bans families, women from restaurants with gardens

Taliban In Afghanistan: Places that did not follow the new rule in the future will be closed, the official said.

The Taliban banned families and women from restaurants with gardens or green spaces in Afghanistan's Herat province, an official said, as per news agency Associated Press. The move came after complaints from religious scholars related to mixing of genders in such places, he explained.

Taliban In Afghanistan: A Taliban fighter stands guard as a woman walks past in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Azizurrahman Al Muhajir, head of the Vice and Virtue directorate in Herat said, "It was like a park but they named it a restaurant and men and women were together. Thank God it has been corrected now. Also, our auditors are observing all the parks where men and women go."

Authorities also said that owing to gender mixing, women allegedly were not wearing the hijab correctly which was the reason for the rule being imposed. However, Baz Mohammad Nazir, a deputy official from the Ministry of Vice and Virtue's directorate in Herat, said that all restaurants were not off limits to families and women but the rule only applied to restaurants with parks.

“After repeated complaints from scholars and ordinary people, we set limits and closed these restaurants," he said. Places that did not follow the new rule in the future will be closed, he added. Additionally, gaming arcades were now off-limits to children because of unsuitable content, he informed.

"Internet cafes, where students learn and use for their studies, are necessary and we have allowed them," he said.

The Taliban has imposed a series of restrictions in Afghanistan since they took power in August 2021- not allowing education for girls beyond sixth grade and women in universities while also banning women from public spaces such as parks and gyms.