Taliban ban Afghan women from flying without male relative

A poster ordering women to cover up is seen at a gate of Kabul's airport

The Taliban have ordered airlines in Afghanistan to stop women from boarding flights unless accompanied by a male relative, aviation officials told AFP.The latest restriction on women follows Wednesday's shutdown of all girls' secondary schools just hours after they were allowed to reopen for the first time since the hardline Islamists seized power in August.

"Some women who were travelling without a male relative were not allowed to board a Kam Air flight from Kabul to Islamabad on Friday," a passenger who was on that flight told AFP. An Afghan woman with a US passport was also not allowed to board a flight to Dubai on Friday, another source said.