The sight of all those men on bikes in the streets of Kabul is depressing for former female cyclists. 'When you see men can do that and you can't do that, it feels like injustice,' says a 19-year-old.
Bicycles have become the only commuting option for many Afghans, who are often unable to afford a ride in a bus or a shared cab as the economy has unraveled under Taliban rule. But the conservative Taliban culture means that women are missing from the ranks of these new riders.Bicycles have become the only commuting option for many Afghans, who are often unable to afford a ride in a bus or a shared cab as the economy has unraveled under Taliban rule.
So new traffic patterns are emerging from Kabul's grinding gridlock, with cars, trucks and motorbikes forced to make way for an influx of cyclists. On a recent day on a main street, a man whizzed between cars with official-looking files in his basket. Another had a giant bag of apples strapped to his bike's back rack. One man ferried his young daughter, who sat neatly sidesaddle on the rack, her legs dangling over the wheel.
That includes Fahim, the radiologist, whose boss slashed his salary to $90 a month due to a lack of paying patients. Without the aid that Western governments used to send to prop up previous governments, the Afghan economy faltered. Sanctions on Taliban leaders caused banking and trade to seize up. Then the Russian invasion of Ukraine sent fuel prices soaring in Kabul – Fahim's daily taxi fare cost 80 cents one day, far more than he could afford.
But following the toppling of the Taliban after 9/11, Western money poured into Afghanistan. Most men who could afford to ditched their bikes.Also during that time, there was a small but growing movement of women and girls who started riding bikes. Many did it to challenge a conservative culture that sees female cyclists as shameful – because the shape of a woman's bottom can be perceived and so can the shape of her legs as she pedals.
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