Though silenced in public, Afghan women continue their resistance in secret. Credit: Learning Together

By External Source
Dec 13 2024 (IPS)

Three years after the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan, women continue to face oppressive laws and systemic marginalization.

The Taliban have imposed draconian rules: women must cover their entire body from head to toe, they must not raise their voices in public, they must not pray or read the Koran aloud to each other. They have long been banned from taking up jobs outside the home or have education

Despite this, Afghan women are determined to resist. “We will continue our protests and struggles until we achieve freedom,”  defiantly declares Farzana, a member of the Afghan Women Movement.

Over the past 20 years, women in Afghanistan had achieved higher education and professional skills, but are now under greater threat from the Taliban. They have suddenly been marginalized by Taliban rule.

“During the first two years,” says Farzana, “we took to the streets to protest for our rights. Unfortunately, during these demonstrations, the Taliban arrested the protesting women, imprisoned and punished them, and there was no one to defend these women.”

Women could no longer tolerate this situation and took to the streets to demand their rights, but lately, despite the introduction of new and strict laws by the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice of the Taliban, which even banned women’s voices, no street protests have been seen. It seems that silence has also plagued Afghan women.

Based on my interviews with female prisoners after their release, they were even whipped naked, raped, and their family members mysteriously murdered.

“We are secretly active in protest groups,” Farzana explains. “We are not allowed to roam the streets. We have been sharing our protests with the media individually from home for some time now. The Taliban cannot silence our voices. We will continue our protests and struggles until we reach freedom”.

Malalai, another female protester, says: “The Taliban even send spies to our homes under various pretexts, with masked faces, claiming they are people on routine government duties. They have our photos and videos with them, and they identify and arrest us.”

Though silenced in public, Afghan women continue their resistance in secret. Credit: Learning Together

Malalai also says that the Taliban have installed cameras on top of every high building, supposedly for security cameras, but their real purpose is to monitor women. Recently, several women have been unexpectedly arrested and imprisoned.

“The Taliban are afraid of us because we expose the oppression on the people, women, and ethnic minorities”, says Malalai adding: “The Taliban have imposed pressure and strict rules on women. Women cannot even go on the streets without a Mahram – a male family member. We are interrogated if a few of us are seen standing together on the streets. They check our cell phones and punish us”.

“The Taliban have a strangle-choke on us. They are shamelessly violating our human rights, the rights of ethnic minorities and that of our families in full view of the United Nations and other countries.

“We women will continue our struggle despite the pressures and oppression of a world-known terrorist group. We will act on our slogans of bread-work-freedom”.

Sabera, another female protester, highlights the Taliban’s tactics of intimidation and control. “Taliban’s intelligence agents are arresting women who are against them. Through phone calls and photos that they gather from the demonstrations, they identify the women protesters during house-to-house searches. Also, they forcibly collect copies of people’s identity cards and passports to identify the women protesters – their declared opponents.”

Although we protested for our rights, many women protesters, both single and married, are currently imprisoned by the Taliban and are facing severe punishment, with no one following up on their situation.

Currently, due to many challenges, we are holding protests in secret locations with our faces covered, and then we must flee to another country.

The Taliban commit a lot more atrocities and oppression in the distant provinces further away from the cities. They forcibly tax the people twice their annual income.

If people do not obey the dictate of the Taliban, they forcibly enter their homes and snatch away their daughters. They also rape their wives and daughters and force them to move out of their residential areas.

“We can no longer tolerate this oppression. We will continue our fight,” says Sabera.

Those interviewed say the women in Afghanistan are fighting bravely against the tyranny and harsh laws of the Taliban, but they do not have any support.

“In spite of poverty and unemployment, we continue our journey at our own expense,” says Sabera.

The women are appealing to the United Nations and human rights organizations to stop supporting and to not recognize the Taliban regime.

“We are very disappointed that our voices do not reach the world from this dark pit,” says Sabera.

The European Union is shocked at the laws passed by the Taliban that limits women’s freedom of speech and, essentially restricts women’s life to within the house.

“Possible recognition would require that the Taliban comply in all respects with both its obligations towards the citizens of Afghanistan and Afghanistan’s international obligations,” an European Council press release states.

The EU continues to support Afghan women and girls and all those threatened by the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The Taliban, on the other hand, also refuse to cooperate with the UN-supported UNAMA aid operation

Excerpt:

The author is an Afghanistan-based female journalist, trained with Finnish support before the Taliban take-over. Her identity is withheld for security reasons