We must have heard this principle, ‘If you educate a man, you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman, you educate a nation‘. However it doesn’t seem like the Taliban regime in Afghanistan abides by or understands this principle at all. The Taliban regime has brought down the progress of women and girls of Afghanistan back by about 20 years. Ever since they regained power in August 2021, Afghan women are continuously being deprived of their basic rights- the right to education, access to public spaces and employment.
Ever since they regained power in August 2021, Afghan women are continuously being deprived of their basic rights- the right to education, access to public spaces and employment.
Girls in Afghanistan have been banned from secondary schooling and women from tertiary education. The UNESCO agency on August 15th, mentioned, ‘The Taliban have deliberately deprived 1.4 million Afghan girls of schooling through bans‘. Education for girls above sixth grade is prohibited because the Taliban believes it does not comply with Sharia laws. This makes Afghanistan the only country in the world to ban secondary and higher studies for women.
Women cannot dare to dream in a Taliban ruled Afghanistan
On December 20, 2022, in a blink of an eye, the hopes and dreams of nearly 19.5 million Afghan women and young girls were crushed. The Taliban issued a ban on female students attending university in Afghanistan, driving most girls out of schools and each woman out of universities, thus, threatening the future of young girls who had a dream, who lived by it and longed direly for it.
After that notice, two days later, the Taliban also banned women from working for international humanitarian organisations. Today, apart from a few exceptions like the health sector, women in Afghanistan have been completely pushed out of their workplaces. They have been deliberately confined into their homes. They have been subjected to many such unreasonably discriminatory rulings. There is an appalling attack on their freedom and human rights. They are in the dark about what is going to come their way.
The Taliban have been quashing all forms of dissent. It’s one of the most repressive regimes that has banned every institutional body that can keep them in checks and balances, such as the media and civil society. It has proven a complete disregard towards the principles of justice, liberty and equality. Their law toppled the previously progressive constitutional framework built after their first take over in 1996.
Their law toppled the previously progressive constitutional framework built after their first take over in 1996.
While the women were being denied of daring to dream, of even going to schools, playing sports or participating in paid economy until Taliban’s “further notices” which actually haven’t been furthered since 2021, the world just watched. The world just gave actionless words to Afghan women.
Taliban-led gender apartheid towards Afghan women is back
Between 2001-2021, women and girls made immense progress in terms of education, democratic participation, and healthcare in Afghanistan. However, now they are all subjugated to gender apartheid. They have been reverted back to that 2001 era. A New York Times article depicts the impact of Taliban regime on women in 2001 and now, ‘Afghan woman’s view of the world was through the windows of their home‘.
From going to schools and workplaces to even just appearing in public without a male companion to escort, the mobility of women is banned. Most Afghan women have had to endure these restrictions and controls. The lives of one group particularly has been curtailed the most, women with no male companion or relatives. All these oppressive rulings have created an irreversible damage in the lives of Afghan women with lack of access to education, financial independence and mobility.
It’s the 21st century era. We are not in the 17th century world where such practices were a common display and patriarchal monarchs so outwardly oppressed women. But unfortunately, in a Taliban-ruled Afghanistan, all eras are the same.
Was Afghanistan always so oppressive towards women?
The answer is a big ‘no’. Afghan women won the right to vote as early as 1919, a year before the women in the US, the so-called flag bearer of progressive democratic states had gained the right to vote. Afghan Women also exercised political agency through a constitution that guaranteed them equal rights. Although women’s rights in 2001-2021 Afghanistan had not been like what they were in the past, the country still managed to somewhat recover.
The pre-Taliban 2.0 rule in Afghanistan remind us that the Taliban rule is not the norm. Women had managed to say a strong no to the patriarchs and had moved ahead with their participation in the country’s economy, education and political practices. They had claimed their spaces after their turbulent past and a history of struggles.
UN is all words and no action, as one would expect
However, it wasn’t long lived. Ever since the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban regained control in Kabul, the capital and soon in the entire country. Despite their initial luring of fake claims to respect human rights, they have steadily reimposed their religious fundamentalism by a strict interpretation of sharia-based law on the country. This includes heinous acts like public executions, amputations, and flogging too.
According to the Global Conflict Tracker, Afghanistan continues to face one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises. It has been exacerbated by devastating economic shocks and the worsening effects of climate change. This has caused widespread displacement, poverty, and food insecurity. The Tracker report also reveals that an estimated number of around 23.7 million Afghans required humanitarian aid as of February 2024. The Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan (HNRP) have been providing life assistance but due to limited fundings, the implementation of humanitarian aids is at stake.
Furthermore, the tracker raises concerns regarding the Afghan affiliate The Islamic State of Khorasan Province (ISKP), which continues to target civilians through bombings and other life endangering attacks intensifying the present situation of instability and conflict in the country.
The Taliban like groups have continuously committed a war against women and humanity.
The Taliban like groups have continuously committed a war against women and humanity. Their approach is systematic, institutionalised and as gory as can be. They have always had this approach. The world, especially the U.S was however, expecting a different Taliban this time submitted to their false claims without any study to actually substantiate the Taliban’s claims of a changed regime.
This expectation and an assumption without any study that the Taliban had changed has today just proved to be a cover up by the U.S for its failure to manage the situation in Afghanistan. It is a cover up that has costed the lives of millions of Afghans and taken all sorts of rights and freedom of the Afghan women.
Women still continue to resist the Taliban. However, even the consequences of protesting are so gory. The media is inaccessible and entirely under the Taliban’s control. Meanwhile, International bodies like United Nations that have the resources to control the situation are all words and no action, as one would expect, thus, leading to a bleaker future each day for Afghans especially women.
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