Taliban hard-liners turning back the clock in Afghanistan

By KATHY GANNON
Associated Press

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Taliban hard-liners are turning back the clock in Afghanistan with a flurry of repressive edicts over the past days that hark back to their harsh rule from the late 1990s. Girls have been banned from going to school beyond the sixth grade, women are barred from boarding planes if they travel unaccompanied by a male relative. Men and women can only visit public parks on separate days and the use of mobile telephones in universities is prohibited. 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.