Two years have passed since the fall of Kabul in the hands of the taliban who took control of Afghanistan in the midst of a chaotic and controversial US withdrawal from the country, after almost 20 years of fighting. “Afghanistan was liberated from occupation, the Afghans were able to recover their country, their freedom, their government and their will,” said Taliban deputy spokesman Bilal Karimi.
The Taliban are not recognized by most countries in the world, which maintain sanctions against the country, and condemn the treatment that the regime has imposed on Afghan women: life under the new government quickly became repressive and brutal. And activists warn that things can only get worse as the world looks the other way, war-weary and overly concerned with its own domestic problems.
“Women’s freedom no longer exists,” said Mahbouba Seraj, an Afghan women’s rights activist nominated for the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize.Women in Afghanistan are slowly being erased from society“, about life, about everything: their opinions, their voices, what they think, where they are,” he added.
Facade
When the Taliban (a radical islamist group who had ruled Afghanistan in the 1990s) took power in 2021, initially presenting themselves as a more moderate version of what they had been, even promising that women would be allowed to continue their education through university.
But it has since taken strong action, closing girls’ high schools; prohibiting women from attending university or working in NGOs, including the United Nations; restricting her travel without a male companion; and prohibiting all their activities in public spaces.
Women can no longer work in most sectors, and last month they were dealt another blow when the Taliban all hair salons closed from the country. The industry had employed approximately 60,000 women, and for many of them it was the sole breadwinner for their families. “I’m 20 years old and it’s time for me to study, to educate myself. But I don’t have permission. I’m just in my house. I’m only worried about my future, that of my sisters, and I’m worried about the future of all the women in Afghanistan,” says Zahara.
Unable to go out, most Afghan women try to occupy their time at home by painting, reading and taking online classes. But internet use is restricted and for most it feels suffocating: nine out of 10 women in Afghanistan are subjected to some type of domestic violence, according to the UN.
This has had serious consequences for mental healthwith widespread reports of depression and suicide, especially among teenagers, who have been prevented from pursuing their education, according to a UN report last month.
suicides
Almost 8% of people surveyed knew a girl or woman who had attempted suicide, according to the survey. Economic restrictions and hardship have also resulted in an increase in domestic violence and forced marriage of girls.
The Taliban insist that women are allowed to work in certain sectors. Zabiullah Mujahid, another Taliban spokesman, acknowledged that there was a “problem related to girls’ education,” stating that the government wanted to “prepare the ground for Islamic rules and regulations”. He also stated that “women actively work in healthcare, education, police departments, passport offices, and airports.”
But NGOs and experts say that is far from the truth. Under Taliban rules, women can only receive medical care from other women, but the ban on women’s higher education means that all medical students have not been able to finish their studies and graduate, creating a shortage of female doctors, midwives and nurses.
“The Taliban seem comfortable with the idea that it is almost certain that women and girls are already dying due to a lack of health professionals,” said Heather Barr, association director of the women’s rights division of Human Rights Watch.
sanctions
After the Taliban took power, the United States and its allies froze about $7 billion of the country’s foreign reserves, and cut off international financing. Measure paralyzed an economy that was already heavily dependent on aidwith millions of Afghans out of work.
Last year, the United States created a $3.5 billion economic assistance fund with frozen assets. But humanitarian assistance has dried up after the Taliban banned women from working in NGOs. Numerous organizations, including the UN, had to suspend critical programs and operations in the country. Meanwhile, activists fear that the Taliban could gradually become normalized on the global stage, even if they are not recognized as a legitimate government.
Meanwhile, more than 1.6 million Afghans have fled the country since 2021. But These refugees face an uncertain future, many are still waiting to be admitted to the US and other Western nations. And others have been forcibly deported to Afghanistan. Many are women.
“Afghanistan is in the midst of a mental health crisis precipitated by a women’s rights crisis,” acknowledges UN Women representative Alison Davidian. Around 90% of mental health admissions to the western Herat provincial hospital were women who “collapsed under the weight of the new restrictions,” a doctor acknowledges about the great Afghan drama.
by RN
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