After a lightning-fast military campaign to win the majority of the country, the Taliban pledged to establish a lenient form of government in Afghanistan that would fulfill certain rights, including women, that were missing in their first rule. But almost 20 days after the takeover of Kabul, various statements by the Taliban suggest that government reform is unlikely.
After the Taliban had promised to enable women to continue their studies, they introduced many female riders from time to time. Initially, the militant group had stated that they would allow women to be educated within the limits of Sharia or Islamic law without revealing any details. Later, when the details became known, Afghan women feared that the situation under Taliban 2.0 would be no different than it was in the 1990s.
Abdul Baqi Haqqani, the incumbent Minister of Higher Education of the Taliban, met with elders known as a loya jirga, on August 30th. After the meeting, he stated that Women are allowed to study at universities but there would be a ban on mixed classes under their rule.
Taliban decree at universities
Corresponding the guard, the Taliban have issued a decree at private universities, in which a list of regulations for the Prevent male and female students from looking each other in the face during the academic years.
According to the Taliban’s list, a bus is to be made available to the women to take them to the university. The bus would have covered windows and a curtain that separated them from the presumably male driver. They would be locked in a “waiting room” between lessons.
The decree even requires that college students and teachers wear black clothing.
In order to distinguish between male and female pupils, a “Sharia dividing wall” must be erected for the current classes with girls under the age of 15, according to the regulation. Same-sex teachers should be allowed to teach students, according to the new rules.
“In future, all universities should provide female teachers for teaching women. You should also try to bring in older teachers with good backgrounds, ”the Guardian quoted as quoting the letter.
An Afghan woman speaks to a Taliban member during a protest in Herat on Thursday. (Photo: AFP)
With fewer students and a lack of space in educational institutions, teachers fear that it could become difficult to comply with the new Taliban decree, which would force women and girls to drop out.
“We heard some of these statements in 1996-2001 when the Taliban said the reason girls couldn’t study and women couldn’t work was because the security situation was not good and once the security situation improved they could leave return. Of course, that moment never came, ”the Guardian quoted Heather Barr, deputy director of the women’s rights division at Human Rights Watch.
“This suggests that even in the 1990s the Taliban felt the need to cover up part of their misogyny. So this is not a completely new communication strategy that they are pursuing now and Afghan women can see that, ”she added.
Women protest
Concerned that the Taliban would trample on their rights, women held two protests in the past few days Herat and adoption. With posters and slogans, the Afghan women demanded that they be allowed to do an apprenticeship and take up a job.
“We are here to ask about our rights,” Fereshta Taheri, one of the protesters, told AFP. “We’re even ready to wear burqas if they tell us to, but we want women to go to school and work.”
Even if Afghan women pushed for rights such as administration and voting rights, education remains their main concern.
Some women told the Guardian that they had already given up their education out of fear of the Taliban’s new rules and their brutal past. “I don’t believe the Taliban. I’m afraid of their rules and worry about losing my life under their control for no reason, ”one student told the Guardian who lived in a dormitory while studying in Kabul.
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“I had a plan to accelerate my studies and take more courses. I went to the gym after college. I had the plan to start a small business in Kabul, but everything was gone within a few hours. Words cannot describe my current depression, ”she added.
Unofficial reports on women quoted by the Guardian show that the Taliban reintroduced the requirement that a male guardian or mahram accompany them in any public space.
How women were treated during the first Taliban rule
When the Taliban ruled Afghanistan for the first time from 1996 to 2001, their strict interpretations of Sharia or Islamic law – sometimes brutally enforced – dictated that women were not allowed to work and girls were not allowed to go to school.
Women had to cover their faces and be accompanied by a male relative if they wanted to venture out of their homes. Those who broke the rules were sometimes humiliated and publicly beaten by the Taliban religious police.
(With inputs from the Guardian)
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