Afghan women and girls still trapped and suffering despite Taliban’s promises
- The Taliban said it would uphold their rights and freedoms, but women are being detained for claiming the right to work or study
- The world must not be allowed to forget Afghanistan’s girls and women. Global powers that have ties with the Taliban, such as China, have a moral obligation
Sara Seerat, 27, and Sahar*, 19, are among the most courageous women I’ve ever interviewed. They are from Afghanistan, where the hardline Islamist Taliban took power last August.
Seerat, a women’s rights advocate who once worked for the government, has since been subjected to threatening text messages and harassment for organising a protest, and has experienced frustration at not being able to go to work or move around on the streets by herself.
Sahar said she was no longer able to attend university and had to close down a cafe she had recently set up for women. She lamented the fate of those who were left unemployed after that.
‘Huge gap’ between Taliban’s promises and reality: UN Women’s Asia chief
More than six months after the Taliban toppled the Western-backed government, Afghan women are increasingly struggling to live their lives freely. Even though the Taliban has promised to uphold rights and freedoms, some women have been detained for protesting peacefully and even for claiming the right to work or study.
For Sahar, who was born during the American occupation of Afghanistan and grew up believing she could complete a degree and run a business, the suppression has had a damaging psychological effect.
“If this situation continues in Afghanistan, I’m sure all Afghan women will suffer from depression and mental health problems,” she told me.
Now women “do not have the right to education, the right to work. And they do not even have the right to protest peacefully.
Every day, women from different provinces and parts of the country are imprisoned for claiming their rights,” Sahar said. She does not trust the Taliban’s promises to respect women’s rights. “So far it has not happened, and it will not happen.”
While Sahar is left with no option but to wait, Seerat carries the burden of having to leave her country. “The problems there have increased for me,” she said. Seerat has finally won asylum in a European country, but she intends to continue speaking up on behalf of those left behind.
The world must not be allowed to forget Afghanistan’s girls and women. Global powers that have ties with the Taliban, such as China, have a moral obligation to push the Taliban into restoring human rights for all females. In recent talks with the Taliban on foreign aid, Gulf envoys emphasised the right of women to work and stressed the importance of allowing girls to attend school.
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Afghan children remain behind bars for petty crimes in overcrowded prisons under Taliban rule
While the Taliban vowed to reopen schools and universities for girls, it must be held accountable for this before gaining diplomatic recognition.
There are other ways governments and aid groups can help, such as offering free online education to girls trapped at home, opening up more places for asylum and expediting existing requests from women.
These should be in parallel to continued pressure on the Taliban and maintaining efforts to raise funds as well as channelling humanitarian aid to a country whose economy is on the brink of collapse.
We owe it to bright young women like Sahar.
*Name changed to protect her identity
