Why are Afghan women at the crossroads again?

In an interview, UN Secretary General António Guterres said, “The de facto authorities’ failure to reopen schools for girls above sixth grade, despite repeated commitments, is a profound disappointment and deeply damaging for Afghanistan. I urged the Taliban de facto authorities to open schools for all students without any further delay.”

It seems that history is repeating itself in Afghanistan. The current Afghan regime’s policies, behaviour and attitude toward the female population are like the Taliban regime that reigned from 1996 to 2001. When the Taliban regained control over Afghanistan in August 2021, their leadership committed to protecting the rights of women by allowing them to seek employment and pursue education. However, they failed to fulfil their pledge. On 23rd March, the Taliban regime closed girls’ schools just a day after they reopened. Taliban’s designated ambassador to the UN Suhail Shaheen denied that his government has deprived girls of the right to go to school. He argued that schools were closed because of ‘technical reasons’. The US and the UN heavily criticised the Taliban regime for depriving women of education. On 27th March, Afghan women and girls launched a widespread protest against the decision to deny women their right to education. The women warned the Taliban that if the girls’ schools continue to remain closed, they will stage demonstrations throughout the country until their demands are met and open the schools themselves. This signals that people are no longer willing to tolerate oppression.

The Taliban regime has used religion to justify their harsh and brutal measures against Afghan women and restricted them from traveling beyond 27 kilometres without a male relative. Recently, several Afghan women were prevented from traveling by air because they did not have any male relatives accompanying them. The Taliban authorities also drew up schedules for women to visit parks i.e. Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, and the other days are reserved for men.

The ultra-conservative Taliban regime has imposed their way of life on not just women but men as well. Although they claim that their rule is based on Islamic jurisprudence, they have failed to provide logical Islamic reasoning for their harsh measures and practices. The Taliban have combined their tribal and cultural characteristics with religion and taken punitive measures to repress the 48% female population of Afghanistan. Men have also been deprived of a healthy, balanced, and independent life as all activities have been banned. They have ordered all men to conform to their version of Shariah.

The Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice denied criticism against anti-women steps and stated, “It is not the Islamic Emirate’s order but God’s order that men and women who are strangers to each other should not gather at one place.” The same ministry recently ordered all government employees to grow beards and follow a dress code consisting of long and loose tops with trousers. During the Taliban regime from 1996 to 2001, employees were monitored and instructed to adhere to dress codes in the same way. The ministry also warned that failure to comply with the dress code will result in termination from jobs. It seems the Taliban regime has not learned lessons from their unpopular decisions of the past and their mindset is as sick, suffocating, narrow and backward as it was before. Using Islam to impose their ultra-orthodox and conservative way of life will have serious backlash in Afghan society.

Will Afghan women and men including the youth resist brutal and repressive measures imposed by the second Taliban regime or will they follow a conformist approach? If the Taliban regime is successful in imposing its ultra-conservative ideology on the Afghan population, it will result in genocide of talent, creativity, innovation, education, science, research, and quality of life. The Taliban mindset is contradictory, hypocritical and deceitful. While they deprive Afghan girls of education, their children are studying in foreign countries. The main reason for their international isolation is their contradictory approach to human rights. No members of the UN have granted diplomatic recognition to the Taliban regime.

How long will the 39 million people of Afghanistan live under suffocation and repression depends on the Afghan youth as they must bear the brunt of the retrogressive policies of the Taliban. Twenty years of freedom for Afghan women to seek education, employment and travel have been taken away by the Taliban regime. If the women fail to conform, they are persecuted. Consequently, Afghan women are once again at the crossroads with an unpleasant present and an uncertain future. Afghanistan is fast moving in the direction of the first Taliban regime when suffocation and repression reduced women to a third-rate level.

The unchanged mindset of the Afghan Taliban about women and the harsh implementation of their mode of Shariah need to be examined from two angles.

First, social backwardness and retrogressive way of life are reflected in Afghan society’s conformity to the Taliban’s harsh orders against women. It means that despite reforms and the so-called process of modernisation from 2001-to 2021, the majority of Afghan people are unwilling to resist measures that are detrimental to a positive societal change. Conforming to a mindset that imposes their version of Shariah by force would result in further degeneration of Afghan society. According to Afghan female activists and women empowerment organisations, the Taliban’s suppression of women’s freedom stems from the fear that empowered women will question the repressive policies of the regime. Taliban are against political pluralism, democracy, constitution, elections, and free media. Recently, they banned British, German and American transmission in Pushto and Dari languages because of their insecurity.

Second, the intolerant, parochial and repressive mindset against women will further isolate the Taliban regime and augment the suffering of the Afghan people. Afghanistan is being reverted to a medieval way of life, which will cut the Afghan population off from the mainstream global competitive mechanism. The Taliban’s anti-women and anti-development approach can have regional ramifications, especially in Pakistan. This form of mindset will motivate and encourage ultra-orthodox and conservative elements. They will push for more curbs on women and ban music, sports and other recreational activities. The Taliban-type ideology that manipulates Shariah can inspire various extremist Islamic groups in South Asia who will try to suppress women’s rights and impose their way of life.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 3^rd, 2022.

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