Advertisement

Updated August 25th, 2021 at 18:48 IST

Taliban's double face: Journalist exposes horrific incident of terrorists abusing women

Hollie McKay said that Taliban men have been going house to house throughout the country looking to marry women and girls over the age of 15.

Reported by: Aakansha Tandon
Taliban
Image Credit: AP | Image:self
Advertisement

The new Talibani regime that has captured control of Afghanistan by overthrowing the Afghan government, has been brandishing a polished self-image in front of the world. Taliban leaders have promised to keep the Afghan women safe and progressive under their rule, however, their actions do not follow what they claim. Several fresh reports from the war-stranded region suggest that the Taliban are still the same regressive women oppressors.

Reporting the latest account of abuses being hurled at women in Afghanistan, a female journalist, who managed to escape the war-torn country, described the current scenario in her report and said “life has taken a 180-degree turn for Afghan women after the fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban.”

Talibani men are doing house to house search to marry young girls

According to a recent report by news agency ANI, Dallas Morning News journalist Hollie McKay said that Taliban men have been going house to house throughout the country looking to marry women and girls over 15 years of age. McKay further stated that her Afghan friends who remain in Mazar-e-Sharif there are terrified of what lies ahead.

"I thought of how hard women had fought for their freedoms in this country, only to have them cleaved away with a click of the insurgency finger," said McKay.

McKay described the fears of a 14-year-old girl she met earlier at a displaced person camp on the outskirts of Kabul. The girl had fled after fighting for her life, and all she wanted was education and the chance to become a doctor one day.`

She also wrote about Fariha Easer, an Afghan woman she met many years ago. Fariha, who traversed the dangerous country to bring their experiences to light and be a powerful force for change, was shattered into a million pieces after the Taliban seized control. "My friends on the outside are begging me to leave my country. But how can I, when my sisters are suffering?", The Dallas Morning News quoted Fariha as saying.

"But pain and invisibility are not all these incredibly brave activist fears. She told me the Taliban have been going house-to-house, looking for women and girls over 15 for marriage. A month ago, insurgent members arrived on the doorstep of her friend's home in Badakhshan, which fell to the group several months ago, looking for young brides. Fariha told me the story she heard from her friend," said McKay.

"They were saying that they are the saviours, the guards of Islam, the liberators of the West," Fariha said in a firm voice. "They asked one father to give over his daughters as wives. They said one of the Taliban is a mullah, and they must make an engagement for him."

The request was a rhetorical one but there was no choice for the girl. The unmarried 21-year-old was taken away in the dead of night.

"After the marriage, they took the young woman away. But the father found out after three days that it was not only the Taliban who married her and had sex with her, she was being raped by four others every night," Fariha recounted the story. "The father went to the district governor and was told there was nothing he could do. Whatever could be done, he must do himself.

"Nothing has changed. They [the Taliban] are trying to say that they have changed their behaviour, but they have not," Fariha said, a quiver in her soft voice. "They have not changed, and they will not change. They are defined by violence, killing, by a constant violating of human rights."

"In my own experience of being inside the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif as it fell last Saturday, I saw the bustling city brimming with women immediately become a ghost town. The few women who eventually stepped into the sunshine were sheathed in blue burqas, neither seen nor heard," said McKay.

Taliban justifies restrictions imposed on Afghan women

In another development, Taliban spokesperson Zabihullah Mujahid on Tuesday justified the terrorist group's ban on women leaving homes. Stating that the prevention of women from going to institutions is "temporary", Zabihullah Mujahid said that this issue will be solved.

"It's currently for their benefit to prevent any ill-treatment," he added. According to a report by the Associated Press, the women of Afghanistan are not being allowed to go out to the markets without a male escort. They are also not being allowed to reveal their ankles or step out of their homes for work.

Taliban’s vow of change is empty, they are still the same

Since capturing several new areas in Afghanistan, the Taliban have re-imposed repressive laws and other retrograde policies on women that defined its iron fist rule from 1996 to 2001, including the enforcement of their version of Islamic Sharia law. Decades ago when the Taliban had conquered Afghanistan, the terrorist group had forced the women to cover themselves from head to toe.

Taliban also forced women to limit education and required each female to be accompanied by a male relative when outdoors. Even though the Afghan government had removed most of the repressive laws, the measures have returned under the control of the Taliban as the group continues to gain ground in Afghanistan. The re-imposition of such laws have come despite the Taliban claiming repeatedly that it has changed its ways.

With ANI inputs

Image: AP

Advertisement

Published August 25th, 2021 at 18:48 IST

Your Voice. Now Direct.

Send us your views, we’ll publish them. This section is moderated.

Advertisement
Advertisement

Trending Quicks

Lok Sabha Polls: Nakul Nath Declares Assets Worth Rs 700 Crore
5 minutes ago
BCAS started the continuous exercise of monitoring the time of arrival of baggage at belts of six major airports in January 2024.
6 minutes ago
Government Approves Major Bureaucratic Rejig with Key Appointments | LIVE
7 minutes ago
LSEG
11 minutes ago
CM Punk and Vince McMahon
14 minutes ago
File Photo of PM Narendra Modi
19 minutes ago
Bribery
23 minutes ago
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Whatsapp logo