The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also known as the Global Goals, were adopted by the United Nations in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 2030 all people enjoy peace and prosperity. The 5th of the SDG goals is to achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. With the withdrawal by the United States from Afghanistan,  the Taliban have banned women from taking long-distance road trips in Afghanistan on their own, requiring that a male relative accompany them for any distance beyond 45 miles, according to a Taliban official. The new law -- forbidding women from the solo, long-distance road trips -- has been instated. He said it was designed to prevent women from coming to any harm or "disturbance." The new rules also call on drivers not to allow women without veils to sit in their cars, and say drivers "should stop their cars in a proper place at the time of prayers to perform prayer." The Taliban also imposed new rules on music and alcohol; drivers are barred from playing music in cars, and "using or transferring intoxicating things in the car is strictly prohibited," the rules say. Fortunately, members of the Afghan Girl's Robotics Team and the Afghan Girl's Football [soccer] Team were able to relocate to other, more permissive locations outside the country. For the girls and women who remain in Afghanistan, most of whom will never be allowed to see this, we wish them the best and hope that their country may advance into the modern age and achieve gender equality in the future, as well.