By Asadullah Jafari “Pezhman”
The Suppression with Bullets Instead of Human and Legal Response
More than 12 months have passed since the black rule of the Taliban group and the suppression of people’s protests, especially women’s protests in Afghanistan. These protests were nothing more than the indisputable, legally, and lawfully rights of the Afghan people and women. These protests and cries are still unanswered by the Taliban group. But the only answers given to these protestors have been slaps, torture, and bullets against the people and women of this land, and that’s enough. This year, on August 15, 2022, on the eve of the seizure of power by the Taliban in Afghanistan. The civil protests of Afghanistan women were once again suppressed and responded with bullets by armed men of the Taliban group on the bloody roads of Kabul.
The Bullet in Response to the Slogan of “Food, Work and Freedom”
Meanwhile, the demonstration of a group of Afghan protesting women in Kabul was dispersed by aerial firing and beating of the protestors by the Taliban militias. Several women were also injured in this protest. AFP reporter reported that around 40 protesting Afghan women gathered in front of the Ministry of Education in Kabul and chanted “Food, Work, and Freedom.” However, the Taliban militias suppressed them with violence, insults, and aerial firing. AFP reporter reported that around 40 protesting Afghan women gathered in front of the Ministry of Education in Kabul and chanted “Food, Work, and Freedom,” Therefore, the Taliban militias suppressed them with violence, insults, and aerial firing.
August 15 is a Dark Day in Afghanistan
Some women who fled to nearby shops were chased by the Taliban and beaten with rifle butts. One of these protesting women told the media, “I and a few others took refuge in a printing house. Two minutes later, the Taliban soldiers came and hit us on the shoulders with guns and kicked us out of that printing house.” According to the correspondent of “AFP,” journalists who wanted to report on the first women’s demonstration in several months were also beaten by the Taliban militias. These demonstrators demanded women’s right to work and political participation in the Afghan government, a government that has been in the hands of the Taliban for more than a year. They carried a slogan: “August 15 is a black day in Afghanistan”.
With the arrival of the Taliban, Thousands of Girls Have Lost their Education
after the domination of the Taliban group in the country, tens of thousands of girls have been denied from attending classes in secondary and high schools throughout Afghanistan. Also, women are no longer allowed to work in government offices. However, according to the strict and extreme laws of the Taliban, separate visiting and recreational days are reserved for men and women in Afghanistan parks. In May, Taliban leader Haibatullah Akhundzada also ordered women to cover themselves entirely in public, and not wearing the hijab would severely punish them.
The Lack of Response and Inhuman Responses to the Women’s Rights by the Taliban
It has been more than a year since the civil protests of Afghan women against the Taliban group’s restrictions on Afghan women in Afghanistan. During this time, many protesting women were arrested, beaten, and subjected to violence by the Taliban forces and even killed and disappeared. After the transfer of power from Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai to the Taliban, all government offices in Afghanistan were closed for 15 days, and women were prohibited from performing their duties. And then, the protesting women started a civil protest on August 17. These women demanded equal rights, equal work, equal attendance, and finally, equal food, but their demonstration was met with violent treatment by the Taliban group. One of the protesting women said in the new report of Amnesty International published in July 2022, “The Taliban hit us in the chest and between our legs (Vaginas) so that we cannot show these crimes to the world.”
Blackmailing from International Community for Girls’ Education
From the very beginning of the protests, women protestors and journalists who covered these protests were subjected to violence and arrested by the Taliban militias. The Taliban banned civil protest across Afghanistan, saying no one had the right to assemble without a permit. Then, the Taliban closed the Ministry of Women’s Affairs and replaced it with the Ministry of Enjoining Good and Prohibiting Evil. Taliban have also deprived girls and women of sports, education, and schools. They considered all these restrictions related to creating an Islamic environment and said that such conditions have not yet been provided in Afghanistan. These non-scientific and non-social behaviors by the Taliban regime show that the Taliban group still hasn’t changed, and they are lying to the world and people to blackmail of international community.
The Mental and Psychological Effects of Restrictions on Women by the Taliban
Hence, many Afghan women and girls have been confined at home since the Taliban regained power and have suffered mental and emotional problems. Hundreds of thousands of self-supporting women in Afghanistan are unemployed and dependent on humanitarian aid. The nascent economy of Afghan families has been re-masculinized and collapsed. Suicides and family violence against women are rampant and increased under the shadow of media censored by the Taliban. According to the institutions monitoring the situation in Afghanistan, “the imposition of restrictions on Afghan women by the Taliban causes an increase in begging and even moral corruption in the cities because Afghan women now live in a very bad condition.”
The Unstable Achievements of 20 Years of NATO Presence in Taliban Hostage
The international community and the countries that participated in the NATO military mission in Afghanistan considered women’s rights and human rights to be their most important achievements in the last 20 years in Afghanistan. Although this was an unstable achievement, now, according to protesting women of Afghanistan, it has been “hostage” by the Taliban. These protesting women say that the protest of Afghan women started after the Taliban came to power again, without the support of the international community or any financial donor. It was unprecedented in the history of Afghanistan. According to the protesters, the purpose of these protests is to take back women’s basic rights such as “education, right to work, political, civil and economic activities” and nothing more.
Does the Taliban’s Restrictions and Violence against Women Have a Religious Aspect?
Eventually, Zabihullah Mujahid, the spokesman of the Taliban group, said that the closure of the girls’ schools in Afghanistan is a “religious issue” and has a “religious aspect.” Mujahid added that in order to open girls’ schools, there is a need for the agreement of scholars inside Afghanistan. But Khaliqdad Balaghi, a religious scholar, believes that preventing girls and women from sports, education, and business by the Taliban group does not have a religious aspect and that the Taliban impose such restrictions under external pressure. He added, “Foreign countries are trying to make Afghan women illiterate and deprived of all fields in order to provide the basis for holding back the Afghan societies.” In the past year, the Taliban have been in power in Afghanistan; Although the international community has repeatedly asked the Taliban to fulfill women’s rights, the Taliban have not shown any softness and flexibility and have always tried to seek profit and blackmailing.
Endnotes:
- http://www.indiandefencereview.com/spotlights/from-demagogy-of-the-taliban-to-weeping-girls-behind-the-gates-of-schools-in-afghanistan/
- http://www.indiandefencereview.com/the-impact-of-taliban-extremism-on-the-human-and-mentally-security-of-women-in-afghanistan/
- https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220813-taliban-violently-disperse-rare-women-s-protest-in-kabul
- https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/07/12/1110857585/secret-schools-enable-afghanistans-teen-girls-to-skirt-talibans-education-ban
- https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/07/afghanistan-talibans-suffocating-crackdown-destroying-lives-of-women-and-girls-new-report/
- https://www.newsweek.com/prisoners-their-homeland-1732682
Asadullah Jafari “Pezhman” is a Diploma in Humanities, Translator, Columnist, and Former Member of the Afghan National Army. He most of the Time, Writing and Translating on Afghanistan and the Middle East Issues.
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