The U.S. Embassy in Kbul Bulk declared Saturday that “girls” can’t go to school in the presence of the Taliban
KABUL, Afghanistan When the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, her parents decided to flee, because the group was bent on imposing auritanical form of Islam.
The new government was quick to say that this time would be different and that there would be no campaign of persecution against women in Afghanistan.
Maybe they were telling the truth, Nilaab thought. She hoped so. She had returned to her homeland as a teenager after a decade in exile, and she was not eager to repeat the experience.
In another edict, a spokesman for the Ministry of Hajj and Religious Affairs, Fazil Mohammad Hussaini, said late Saturday that “adult girls” are barred from attending Islamic classes in mosques in Kabul, although they could still go to standalone madrassas, or religious schools.
Despite initially promising a more moderate rule respecting rights for women’s and minorities, the Taliban have widely implemented their strict interpretation of Islamic law, or Sharia.
The Taliban takeover in 2021, as U.S. and NATO forces were in the final weeks of their pullout after 20 years of war, sent Afghanistan’s economy into a tailspin and transformed the country, driving millions into poverty and hunger. The foreign aid stopped late last night.
Getting a Girl’s Right to Public Space: The Impact of Women’s Rights on Education and the Development of the Republic of Afghanistan
After a government meeting the decision was made. A letter shared by the spokesman for the Ministry of Higher Education, Ziaullah Hashmi, told private and public universities to implement the ban as soon as possible and to inform the ministry once the ban is in place.
The Taliban may find it hard to gain recognition from international donors at a time when they are in the middle of a worsening humanitarian crisis. The international community is urging the Taliban to give women’s right to public space.
“I can’t fulfill my dreams, my hopes. Everything is disappearing before my eyes and I can’t do anything about it,” said a third-year journalism and communication student at Nangarhar University. She did not want to be named for fear of reprisals.
“Is being a girl a crime? If that is the case, I wish I weren’t a girl. “My father had dreams for me, that his daughter would become a talented journalist in the future. That is now destroyed. So, you tell me, how will a person feel in this situation?”
“God willing, I will continue my studies in any way. I am starting online studies. She said she would have to leave the country and go to another country if it does not work.
It’s difficult to see how a country could develop without active participation of women and the education, according to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
The United Nations Charge d’Affairs and the Taliban’s Failure to Respect All Human Beings: a Trainer’s Report to the Afghan Embassy
Robert Wood, the deputy U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said the Taliban cannot expect to be a legitimate member of the international community until they respect the rights of all Afghans.
Despite the Taliban’s request to represent the country at the United Nations, the seat is still held by the previous government, which was led by the man who would later become president.
Afghanistan’s UN charge d’affairs complained that the announcement “marks a new low in violation of most fundamental and universal human rights for all of humanity.”
There were serious complaints regarding female staff working for NGOs who didn’t wear the correct headscarf. It was not immediately clear if the order applies to all women or only Afghan women working at the NGOs.
The NGO order came in a letter from Economy Minister Qari Din Mohammed Hanif, which said that any organization found not complying with the order will have their operating license revoked in Afghanistan. The ministry’s spokesman, Abdul Rahman Habib, confirmed the letter’s content to The Associated Press.
More details were not immediately available amid concerns the latest Taliban move could be a stepping-stone to a blanket ban on Afghan women leaving the home.
“It’s a terrible announcement,” said a master trainer for an organization teaching young people about issues such as gender-based violence. “Are we not human beings? Why are we being treated like this?
The 25-year-old, who works at Y-Peer Afghanistan and lives in Kabul, said her job was important because she was serving her country and is the only person supporting her family. “Will the officials support us after this announcement? If not, then why are they snatching meals from our mouths?” She asked what she needed to do.
She wouldn’t give her name because she was afraid of her own safety, but she said the job gave her more than living.
A U.N. Observation of a Water Cannon-Ban on Higher Education for Women in the Herat Provincial Governor’s House
“Eliminating the freedom of women to choose their own fate takes the nation backward and jeopardizes efforts for any meaningful peace or stability,” the U.N. statement said.
He did not give any further information about the ages that would be affected by the ban or how it would be enforced. It was also not explained why the measure only applies to Kabul mosques.
Earlier on Saturday, Taliban security forces used a water cannon to disperse women protesting the ban on university education for women in the western city of Herat, eyewitnesses said.
According to the witnesses, about two dozen women were heading to the Herat provincial governor’s house on Saturday to protest the ban — many chanting: “Education is our right” — when they were pushed back by security forces firing the water cannon.
Video shared with the AP shows the women screaming and hiding in a side street to escape the water cannon. They return to their protest with the same chants.
One of the protest organizers, Maryam, said between 100 and 150 women took part in the protest, moving in small groups from different parts of the city toward a central meeting point. She did not have a last name for fear of reprisals.
She said that there was security on every street, square and armored vehicle. “When we started our protest, in Tariqi Park, the Taliban took branches from the trees and beat us. But we continued our protest. They increased the security presence. Around 11 a.m. they brought out the water cannon.”
An official in the Taliban government, Minister of Higher Education Nida Mohammad Nadim, spoke about the ban for the first time on Thursday in an interview with the Afghan state television.
They have banned girls from middle school and high school and barred women from most jobs. Women are banned from the parks and fitness centers because they are wearing head-to-toe clothing.
Afghan society, while largely traditional, had increasingly embraced the education of girls and women over the past two decades of a U.S.-backed government.
One of them was reading a poem about the sad situation for Afghan girls looking for an education. She said was unhappy about graduating outside her country when hundreds of thousands of her Afghan sisters were being deprived of an education.
U.N. Secretary General Potzel meets the Taliban: NGOs in Afghanistan under the Taliban’s ban or the fate of their members, as observed by Hanif
Potzel is the latest U.N. official to meet the Taliban’s leadership amid mounting international concern over the curtailing of women’s freedoms in Afghanistan.
Hanif banned NGOs because women didn’t wear the Islamic headscarf correctly. He stated that any organization that did not comply with the order would have their license revoked.
Sanctions on the Taliban rulers, including a halt on bank transfers and the freezing of billions in Afghanistan’s foreign assets have already restricted access to global institutions. Funds from aid agencies helped prop up the country’s aid-dependent economy before the Taliban takeover.
Potzel’s meeting with Hanafi came as a U.N. survey showed that a third of NGOs headed by women in Afghanistan have been forced to stop 70% of their activities due to the ban and around a third have stopped all their activities.