BAHARIN LEHIB

 Kabul- The Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan on August 15, 2021 has caused the country to suffer from an uncertainty. Before the Taliban entered Kabul, Afghanistan’s former President Ashraf Ghani fled the country along with his family members by taking large sums of money, which sparked anger among Afghan people. The Kabul International Airport became the center of chaos for 15 days amid the Taliban's rapid advance on Kabul; five Afghans died after falling from planes, several people, including children, were trampled to death.to death in the stampede. The chaos that started at the airport still continues in every city of Afghanistan due to the Taliban’s oppression, torture, massacres and bans.

After taking control of the country, the Taliban vowed to respect women; however, what has been going on in the country for three years reveals that women in the country have been subjected to rights violations. The situation of women and girls under the Taliban’s rule has been deteriorating every day. The Taliban have deliberately deprived 1.4 million Afghan girls of schooling through bans, said a report released by the United Nations on August 15, 2024. The Taliban have restricted Afghan women's access to work, travel and healthcare. In addition, women, who do not dress according to the Taliban’s interpretation of Sharia, face severe punishments.

‘1.4 million girls have been deliberately denied access to education’

At least 1.4 million girls have been deliberately denied access to secondary education since the takeover, an increase of 300,000 since its previous count in April 2023, with more girls reaching the age limit of 12 every year, said the report released by UNESCO on August 15, 2024.

‘141 journalists have been arrested or detained’

In the three years since the Taliban's return to power on 15 August 2021, when the Islamic fundamentalist group captured Kabul, 141 journalists have been arrested or detained, according to the Reporters Without Borders (RSF). Of the 141 journalists that have been targeted in the past three years, 94 have been arrested, four of them twice, and 47 have been imprisoned.

Anti-democratic practices

Since the Taliban’s takeover of the country, they have implemented many anti-democratic practices, by issuing over 200 decrees and orders that violate human rights and women's rights, cutting the salaries of women from 10,000 afghanis to 5,000 afghanis (70 US dollars), flogging women and men on charges of involving “immoral relations”.

In the three years, many members of the Shia Hazara minority in Afghanistan have been killed in suicide attacks on mosques, schools, training courses in Kabul and other provinces of Afghanistan. Dozens of women such as Zainab Abdullahi, Marina Sadat and Husna Sadat have been killed by the Taliban. Since 2021, the rate of domestic violence, poverty and unemployment has been on rise in the country.

Despite the crimes committed against women by the Taliban, Afghan women are determined to resist and end the Taliban’s darkness.