The Taliban have stepped up their crackdown on Afghans leaving the country as their forces continue a massive operation to clear the capital of civilians. Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid announced the new travel ban late Sunday. The restrictions are intended to prevent hardship for Afghans abroad, he said.
The government has barred nations or non-governmental organizations from organizing evacuations, while even families wanting to leave by their own means must present ‘an excuse’ or they will be stopped by immigration. ‘The ones who leave the country with their families and who have no excuse… we are preventing them,’ Mujahid said in a press conference late Sunday.
Female passengers will not be allowed to travel abroad unless accompanied by a male relative – mirroring domestic restrictions introduced last year which ban solo travel between cities and towns. ‘If they (women) want to travel abroad, they should have a chaperone,’ Mujahid said. The announcement came the same weekend that local authorities launched a search for ‘kidnappers, thieves, and looters’ in Kabul and other Afghan cities -a separate ‘clearing operation’ from the travel restrictions.
New travel restrictions will alarm tens of thousands of Afghans who have worked for US-led foreign forces or other Western organizations during the Taliban’s 20-year insurgency. Two weeks after the hardline Islamists seized Kabul, more than 120,000 Afghans and dual nationals were evacuated. However, thousands of people with similar ties remain in Afghanistan, desperate to leave and fearing they will be targeted by the Taliban as ‘collaborators’. The last official evacuation by air took place on December 1, although road convoys to Pakistan have taken place as recently as last week.
Bad conditions
According to Mujahid, the Taliban banned departures because they received reports of Afghans living in terrible conditions abroad. According to him, ‘protecting the people is the government’s responsibility. Therefore, we will not stop until we are assured that their lives are not at risk.’ He added that evacuations have not been promised indefinitely.
Kabul have plunged into an economic crisis since the Taliban took control of the capital in August, driving even those without ties to the exiled regime to flee. Every day thousands of people attempt to cross into neighboring Iran in search of work or in an effort to reach Europe in search of asylum. $7 billion in Afghan assets were seized by the United States, half of which was designated for humanitarian aid bypassing the Taliban and a half for a compensation fund for families of those killed in the September 11 terrorist attacks.
Not against the common people
Taliban fighters have been searching house-to-house in Kabul for weapons and criminals involved in a spate of recent robberies and kidnappings during a massive security sweep. Many have expressed alarm over the ‘clearing operation’ because they fear they will be targeted for their affiliation with the former Western-backed regime or US-led foreign forces. Infuriated residents posted videos on social media showing the damage their homes had suffered during Taliban searches. However, several people have told AFP their encounters with the Taliban were polite and brief.
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