By Moksha Grover
Ever since the Taliban has taken control over Afghanistan there is a big threat to the rights of afghan women & girls. Three Afghan women who worked at a media company were gunned down in Jalalabad in early March[1]. In January, unidentified gunmen killed two female Supreme Court judges in Kabul[2]. These are just some of the victims of the long list of assassinations of female activists and political leaders in Afghanistan. These assassinations have increased since the government of Afghanistan established connections with the Taliban.
The period of 1996-2001 when the Taliban ruled the country was the darkest time for afghan women. after Independence from the Taliban in 2001, Afghanistan had grown up a lot in terms of supporting women, educating them, and making them stand up for their feet. We have the famous women activists Sima Samar, Aryana Sayeed, and Roqia Abubakr all of who contributed a lot to the growth of Afghanistan. Today women compose around 27% of the Afghan Parliament, one of the highest rates of women’s political representation in the region[3].
Presently, as the Taliban have taken control over the country once again these women are at a worry for their safety and peace accord with the Taliban extremists. The oppressive rules of the Taliban for women make it their darkest times. Women are not being allowed to appear in the streets without a blood relative or without wearing a burqa, not allowing women’s to wear heels, not allowing women’s to speak or make any sound from their footsteps, depriving the right to education for women, these rules under the Sheria law are just too tyrannical. The fight with the Taliban is not just about women’s rights but about the basic rights that every human being needs which the afghan women are being disadvantaged under the rule of the Taliban. It is a platitude to say that, as the Taliban were expanding their territory in Afghanistan on 15th August 2021 afghan women were facing an uncertain future. On 16th August 2021, this uncertainty was replaced by fear and despair as President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, leaving the country in control of the Taliban[4]. Taliban, coming into power once again would lead to Afghanistan being 200 years back.
Afghan women now find themselves in the untenable position of looking for help from the international community. Today, the whole world is following the turbulent scenario in Afghanistan with a heavy heart and deep disquiet about what lies ahead. There is a need for the global call on this issue. Now is the time to stand as one, it is a call on all the international communities to use all available tools to uphold human rights in Afghanistan.
[1] Mona Tajall and Homa hoodfar, ‘Women in Afghanistan worry peace accord with Taliban extremists could cost them hard-won rights’, The Conversation (6 March,2021) <https://theconversation.com/women-in-afghanistan-worry-peace-accord-with-taliban-extremists-could-cost-them-hard-won-rights-154149 > accessed 23rd August, 2021
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Heather Barr, ‘The Fragility of Women’s Rights in Afghanistan’, Inkstick Media (17 August,2021)< https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/08/17/fragility-womens-rights-afghanistan> accessed 23rd August, 2021.
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