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Taliban’s pledge to respect women’s rights met with cynicism

The fundamentalist group has announced a generic policy for women’s inclusion in society ‘within the limits of Islam.’ Given Afghanistan’s history of female oppression, many remain cautiously optimistic.  

During the last month, the world has watched in horror as the Taliban, taking advantage of America’s withdrawal from the region, has seized power in Afghanistan.

Now, many fear the country will revert to its repressive past, one entirely absent of basic women’s rights.

From 1996-2001, the fundamentalist group not only forbid women from seeking employment and girls from attending school, but forced them to wear a full face and body covering and be accompanied by a male chaperone if they wanted to venture out of their homes.

Those who disobeyed were subject to severe consequences such as beatings, stonings, and – albeit rarely – execution.

In the years since, a great deal has changed in Afghanistan.

Millions of girls have received an education and women have been granted a range of new societal opportunities. They’ve joined the military and police forces, attended university, competed in the Olympics, and in some cases even secured powerful positions in government and business.

After two decades of relative autonomy, however, these gains – touted as one of the most significant humanitarian accomplishments in recent history – run the risk of elapsing.

The dreams of an entire generation of Afghan women raised alongside a hope they could one day live within a fair democratic state have been quashed before the Taliban’s relentless advance.

Displaced Afghan women and children from Kunduz shelter at a mosque in Kabul on August 13.

‘I did not expect that we would be deprived of our basic rights again and travel back to 20 years ago,’ a Kabul resident told the Guardian, adding that their return to power brings with it a collective dread of confinement indoors, deprivation of agency, and violent control measures.

‘That after all this time spent fighting for our freedom we should be hunting for burqas and hiding our identities once more.’

In response to such concerns, the movement’s leaders have tried to signal a more tempered regime.

On Tuesday, long-time Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid made his first-ever public appearance to announce a generic policy for women’s inclusion in society.

Mujahid, left, who had been a shadowy figure for years, said 'there will no discrimination against women' [Hoshang Hashimi/AFP]

Part of the military organisation’s effort to present an acceptable face to the world, he vowed that it would respect women’s rights ‘within the limits of Islam’ and ‘forgive’ those who fought them.

‘There will be no discrimination against women,’ he said, refusing to elaborate on specific rules and restrictions. ‘We are going to allow women to work and study, but we have frameworks, of course.’

Yet given Afghanistan’s history of female oppression and the stark difference between this narrative and the country’s current reality, many have responded to Mujahid’s statement with innate cynicism, particularly NGOs which, for the most part, have widely disputed it.

‘They give reassuring messages on giving women their basic rights but their actions on the ground are different,’ says former deputy minister of affairs, Hosna Jalil. ‘Women are afraid of the fact they might be doing this to make sure the Taliban has a peaceful transfer of power and as soon as international forces are out of Afghanistan, all the doors will be shut for them.’

There are already stories of what the Taliban are doing to women in areas they now command: curbing their freedom of movement and pursuing those who’ve led public lives.

In some cities, fighters have sent women home from offices and removed girls from classrooms.

In rural villages, reports have surfaced of forced marriages and lashings for exposed skin.

Countrywide, men have taken to the streets to ridicule women and girls, laughing at their terror with exclamations of ‘go and put on your chadari, it is your last day of being outside.’

And as insurgents reached the capital early Sunday morning, images circulated on social media of beauty salon owners painting over posters depicting models not wearing burqas.

‘They are just saying these things to appeal to the international community, but in time they will become just like they used to be,’ says a Kabul resident who deems this a ploy to lure non-conforming women out for punishment.

‘They are not the progressive people they are pretending to be.’

The question at hand, therefore, is whether the Taliban’s interpretation of Sharia law will be as draconian as when they last held power.

Unfortunately, there are already scattered signs that this will be the case, at least in some parts of the country, where they have quickly begun to reimpose the old order and wreak havoc on the professional accomplishments women have fought so hard for.

Fuelled by scepticism and apprehension that the Taliban will likely continue to follow the same strict ideology it did in the 90s, Afghan women are imploring for global recognition of the struggle they are now facing. At the forefront of this call to aid is Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai.

‘We watch in complete shock as the Taliban takes control of Afghanistan. I am deeply worried about women, minorities and human rights advocates,’ she tweeted. ‘Global, regional, and local powers must call for an immediate ceasefire, provide urgent humanitarian aid and protect refugees and civilians.’

Drawing upon her own experiences, Yousafzai laments that Afghan girls are where she once was – in despair over the thought they may never be allowed to hold a book again.

For this burgeoning generation of young women who’ve nurtured unfettered aspirations from birth, the situation is turning back the clock to an incomprehensible fate.

On this note, Yousafzai stresses the importance of concrete agreements that girls can complete their education, go to university, and be welcomed into the workforce or whatever job they choose.

‘We will have time to debate what went wrong in the war in Afghanistan, but in this critical moment we must listen to the voices of Afghan women and girls,’ she told The New York Times.

‘They are asking for protection, for education, for the freedom and the future they were promised. We cannot continue to fail them. We have no time to spare.’

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