Afghanistan’s Taliban authorities said Sunday that women seeking to travel anything other than short distances should not be offered transport unless they are accompanied by a close male relative.

Taliban banned women from travelling distances longer than 45 miles unless accompanied by a male family member.

The Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice today declared that women seeking to travel anything other than short distances should not be offered transport if they are alone, and insisted transport be offered only to those wearing Islamic hijabs. The guidance, circulated on social media networks, comes weeks after the ministry asked Afghanistan’s television channels to stop showing dramas and soap operas featuring female actors.

The ministry had also called on women TV journalists to wear hijabs while presenting.

Since taking power in August, the Taliban have imposed various restrictions on women and girls, despite pledging a softer rule compared with their first stint in power in the 1990s.

In several provinces, local Taliban authorities have been persuaded to reopen schools — but many girls still remain cut off from secondary education.