Taliban cracks down on woman rights while demanding western aid

Taliban officials are taking new actions to restrict women's freedoms and dismantle democratic institutions as they appeal to the world to release frozen humanitarian aid funds and bank accounts.

The top two international concerns that have kept most foreign aid at bay as a cold winter looms for millions of destitute Afghans, according to Washington Post.

Over the past week, the powerful ministry for Islamic guidance has issued rules requiring women to fully cover their heads if they ride in a public taxi and to be accompanied by a male relative if they travel more than 45 miles.

The above instructions also require cab drivers to refuse to carry female passengers who do not comply and to stop playing music while driving because it is "un-Islamic."

Further action includes the armed occupation and shutdown of the national independent bar association. Rights groups and analysts see the moves as signals that the new, deeply conservative Islamist rulers are both tightening and widening their grip across Afghan society -- despite initial promises of leniency after they took power in mid-August, according to Washington Post.

"The Taliban are reverting to their repressive policies of the past, shattering the myth of a kinder and more moderate Taliban 2.0," said Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the Wilson Center in Washington.

Kugelman and others said Taliban authorities do not appear to be overly concerned about Afghanistan looming humanitarian crisis that international aid agencies predict could engulf the poor, drought-plagued nation of 39 million this winter.

Further, Taliban demands for the release of foreign funds are more a contest of wills -- a game of chicken with the West than a sign of real urgency over the collapsing economy and worsening levels of hunger and cold, Washington Post.

( With inputs from ANI )

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