Afghanistan – In the Taliban’s New Afghan Emirate, Women Are Invisible
Author: Administrator
Date: October 14, 2021
Burqa-clad women shop at a market in Kabul following the Taliban’s military takeover of Afghanistan on Aug. 23. HOSHANG HASHIMI/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
By Lynne O’Donnell, an Australian journalist and author.
AUGUST 27, 2021 – As the Taliban consolidate control over their new Islamic emirate in Afghanistan, women have largely disappeared from public as extremists force them from their jobs and into their homes, bringing an end to 20 years of progress toward freedom and equality.
Human rights activists say they are still unsure if the Ministry of Women’s Affairs will reopen once the Taliban come to grips with the needs of running the country. In the meantime, international support for programs for women has been suspended, and sources in the sector cannot say when or if it will resume.
Almost two weeks after the fall of Kabul, little is understood of how the group intends to govern. They have talked about an “inclusive” government, and sources close to the leadership have said a 12-man council will rule. But so far, most appointments have gone to mullahs—religious men with no experience running ministries, provinces, or even hotels.
Some Afghan sources said suicide attacks at the gate of Kabul’s airport on Thursday, which killed more than 100 people, including 13 U.S. service members, were aimed at discouraging people with education from leaving the country as they will be essential once the country reopens. Although the local Islamic State branch claimed responsibility for the attacks, some Afghans suspect the Haqqani network, closely aligned with the Taliban and in control of security in Kabul, was the more likely perpetrator.
Women are being married to Taliban fighters as spoils of war.
Since Aug. 15, when the militant group took over the capital, Taliban spokespeople have attempted to placate fears of a return to the pre-2001 strictures, saying women will live according to sharia law, though without elaborating what that might mean in practice. Women have said they fear their jobs will be taken from them and they will be forced to stay at home, only leaving in the company of a male relative and then only in the all-covering burqa, as happened during the Taliban’s 1996 to 2001 regime.
Before 2001, girls could only be educated in secret schools. Women were beaten in the streets for such minor so-called “transgressions” as wearing the wrong shoes—the only clothing visible beneath their burqas. Since the U.S.-led intervention, schooling was massively expanded and opened up to girls, with more than 9 million students attending, more than one-third of them girls.
So far, the extremists have not permitted women to return to their jobs in government; some women television news presenters have either been forced into more modest clothing or off the air altogether. A senior editor at one private TV station said the Taliban were pressuring him to remove women from presenting positions.
In some parts of the country, women are being married to Taliban fighters as spoils of war. Some activists have disappeared from their homes as the Taliban go door-to-door looking for enemies. Perhaps one of the most ominous indications of what the future holds was the Taliban announcement that women should stay indoors to be safe from abuse by their young fighters, implying a lack of discipline and the potential for violence.
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