Afghanistan: Shot for not wearing veil, women dread their future as Taliban returns

From 1996 to 2001, the Taliban ruled Afghanistan with an iron fist, setting up ultra-austere rules for residents. The restrictions were particularly stringent for women, who were not allowed to step out sans male relatives, to get educated or even to uncover their faces. Now, with Sunni Fundamentalists inching closer to reestablish the Islamic emirate, the women of Afghanistan fear for their future and hard-earned rights.

For 26-year-old Zahra, who grew up in a Taliban-free environment, their return is a “big shock.”  For the past five years, Zahra has been working with local non-profit organisations to raise awareness on gender equality. However, her dreams came crashing down after the Taliban took control of Herat, the city she resides in, late on Thursday.

“I am in big shock,” said Zahra told the Associated Press.“How can it be possible for me as a woman who has worked so hard and tried to learn and advance, to now have to hide myself and stay at home?,” she understand.

The Taliban now holds possession of 20 of the 34 provincial capitals in Afghanistan or over two-thirds of the country. On Friday, families residing at a shelter told AP that several girls, who were returning home in a motorized rickshaw, in the captured Takhar province were stopped and lashed for wearing “revealing sandals”. Meanwhile, a schoolteacher from the province said no one was allowed to go out to the market without a male escort. Last week, Taliban terrorists shot a young girl for not wearing a veil in the Balkh district.

Late in July, the Taliban issued a diktat reportedly asking Afghan residents to marry off their teen daughters to fighters in the terror group. In a statement shared online, the terror group had directed local leaders to prepare a list of all girls above 15 and widows under 45 to be married as ‘sex slaves’ to the group’s foot soldiers.

Atrocities in the 90s

The Taliban’s previous regime marked the darkest time for Afghan women. During their rule, the Islamist group forbade women from getting any kind of education and blatantly denied their right to work. They also stopped women from travelling outside their homes without a male relative to accompany them. More gruesome acts included public executions. The Taliban chopped off the hands of thieves and stoned women accused of adultery.

In Afghanistan, some 3,000 families, mainly from Northern provinces recently taken over by the Taliban now, live in tents inside the park, some on the sidewalks. 80 per cent of those displaced are women and children.

Image: AP