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As Taliban Sweeps in Afghanistan, Fears for Afghan Women Increase

Ishika Aggarwal Ishika Aggarwal Follow on X Send an email August 16, 2021
540 3 minutes read
Afghan Women

Situation May Get Worse for Afghan Women, are the darker days for women back?

What’s happening in Afghanistan? “My sisters and friends in Kabul say; as they were rushing home today, people shouted at them, “The Taliban are coming because of you!” “The Taliban are here to discipline you!” This tweet is in light of the Taliban’s sweeping into Afganistan’s Capital by Zehra Nader, a Ph. D. Student in Gender & Women’s Studies at York University and former New York Times reporter.

With President Ashraf Ghani abrupt departing leading to the collapse of the government, the Taliban swept into Afghanistan’s capital. The Taliban fighters swarmed out around the capital, with many breaking inside Kabul’s abandoned presidential palace.

Read More:-What Is Happening in Afghanistan?

Since then, it’s been a terror situation in the province. People are queuing up at cash machines to withdraw their life savings, fearful that the Taliban would reimpose the type of harsh rule that had all but obliterated women’s rights. The terribly impoverished stayed in parks and open areas around the city, having fled their homes in the countryside for the imagined protection of the capital.

Keeping history as a witness, this takeover is susceptible to making the situation worse for Afghanis, especially women and children. While it’s too soon to say how worse the situation will be, the most recent incident includes fighters entering offices of Azizi Bank in Kandahar city and ordering nine women working there to leave. The women were escorted by gunmen to their homes and asked to not return to their jobs. They directed that their male counterparts can take the respective positions, reports Reuters.

“We had heard of incidents when the Taliban would kill young men and sexually assault family girls and young women,” Fatima, seven months pregnant woman told The Guardian who was seeking shelter when the bullets were raining down on her home in the village of Qol-e Adam during the crossfire between Afghan government forces and Taliban militants.

The same report of The Guardian mention 38-year-old Ziagul from Bamiyan who highlights the Taliban’s intent for using women as ‘weapons of war’ taking remembrance from the incident of the 1990’s invasion of the Taliban.

Zaigul mentions that they had raped women even when they stormed Bamiyan. This has always been a source of concern for them and that’s why they (Zaigul and six other women from Bamiyan) fleed in the middle of the night.

Many people feel that the Taliban has grown even more vicious and brutal than they were in the 1990s. According to Ali Amiri, an Afghan sociologist and university lecturer, “much of the recent surge of relocation across Afghanistan has been prompted by the Taliban’s dread of how they will handle the survivors.”

Women’s rights activist Mariam Atahi said she is afraid the Taliban “will come and kill me” if the Taliban launch an offensive on Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital and largest city, reports DW.

Sharing a report by The Guardian, Emma Graham wrote what the woman said to her “The men standing around were laughing at our terror. “Go and put on your burqa,” one called out. “It is your last days of being out on the streets,” said another. “I will marry four of you in one day,” said a third.” This testimony is enough to help us know the fears of Afghan women with Taliban invasion.

Also Read: What Is Happening in Afghanistan?

Here’re the fears of people on Twitter

What happened to Afghan Women when the Taliban came to Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001?

Women were not permitted to work, girls were not allowed to attend school, and women had to hide their faces and be escorted by a male relative if they wished to leave their houses when they were last in power in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001. Under the Taliban’s strict interpretation of Islamic law, women who broke the rules were sometimes humiliated and publicly beaten by the religious police.

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Ishika Aggarwal Ishika Aggarwal Follow on X Send an email August 16, 2021
540 3 minutes read
Ishika Aggarwal

Ishika Aggarwal

Can write, shoot, listen, talk and procrastinate. A feminist at heart, Ishika is an avid writer and multimedia person who loves talking about women, realism, and society. When not working she is either seen watching films or making one.
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