Fawad Chaudhry on increased Taliban bans on Afghan women: "Backward thinking is a danger for Pakistan."

In response to the Taliban government's recent actions in Afghanistan towards women, Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry stated on Monday that retrogressive mindset was a "risk for Pakistan."

"You can see that on the right and left sides of Pakistan, two extremist administrations have risen. On one hand, there is Afghanistan, where the Taliban have made their presence known. We want to provide complete assistance to the Afghan people.

"However, claiming that women cannot travel alone or attend schools and universities — this kind of backward mentality is a risk to Pakistan," the information minister said during a ceremony in Islamabad.

He went on to say that a similar Hindu extremist attitude was gaining traction in India, and that the Pakistani state's "largest" and "most vital" battle was to combat these "two extremist mindsets."

"We have had victories and failures, but till now, Pakistan has remained the shining hope in this region, capable of emerging from these extremes while remaining in them."

The information minister's remarks come after Taliban officials in Afghanistan said on Sunday that women who want to commute longer distances should be offered transportation only if they are accompanied by a close male relative.

The Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice recently released guidelines requiring all vehicle owners to only provide rides to women wearing hijabs.

The directive, which was widely circulated on social media, comes weeks after the ministry instructed Afghan television stations to stop airing dramas and soap operas with female actresses. Women TV journalists were also encouraged to present while wearing hijabs, according to the ministry.

Despite promising a milder reign than their first term in office in the 1990s, the Taliban have put different restrictions on women and girls since seizing control in August.

Local Taliban leaders have been persuaded to reopen schools in numerous regions, but many girls still lack access to secondary education.

Women have been told that they cannot work or move without a male guardian, according to Amnesty International. Girls over the age of 12 have been forbidden from going to school for the past three months, and university segregation of women and men is limiting women's possibilities in post-secondary schools.