The Taliban is removing every shred of freedom from womenUntitled Story
Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Last month the Taliban published a new consolidated code of religious laws. It has left Afghan women reeling, with many now searching for ways to leave.
It also has implications for the Taliban’s quest for legitimacy and relations with the world. Three years after America’s withdrawal from the country, the situation in Afghanistan looks worse than ever. Even before the announcement in late August, women were banned from attending secondary schools, universities, parks and female-only spaces such as beauty salons.
They were not allowed to work in most professions. Now they are banned from raising their voices or reciting the Koran in public. They are prohibited from looking at any man other than their relatives, and have to cover their faces fully.
Nasiba (not her real name), a 28-year-old midwife in Badghis, in the north-west of the country, says that after three years under the Taliban she feels “a sense of hopelessness, loneliness". When she leaves the house, she does so “with fear, shaking, that someone might say something to me or stop me". Some women have reacted to the latest announcement by reducing how much they go out; others ensure they are never alone outside.
Amina, a widow in Kabul, the capital, locks her daughter and son inside. Her children eat once a day, if at all: “If there’s food they eat, if not they wait." The new religious code is a “pivotal moment", says Richard Bennett, the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, who is barred from the country by the Taliban. He wants “gender apartheid" to be considered a crime against humanity.
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