UN says Afghan women refuse to be 'erased', but Taliban 'rolled back on women's rights’

In the aftermath of the hasty withdrawal of the US-led military coalition from Afghanistan, hardline Islamist terror group Taliban, which recently formed an all-male dominated government has been threatening the Afghan women's rights in the country, according to the UN. The fundamentalists have been neglecting their promise to respect Afghan women's rights, a United Nations official based in Kabul said on Wednesday. “They [taliban] keep repeating the same statement that women's rights would be respected within the framework of Islam," said Alison Davidian, a United Nations official based in Kabul at a virtual presser.

"Every day we are receiving reports of rollbacks on women's rights, for example, women are prohibited from leaving the house without a mahram or male family member, and in some provinces, they (are) stopped from going to work,” Davidian stressed during a video conference in New York. 

UN representative furthermore slammed the newly formed Taliban government which was made up exclusively of men that have previously been members of the Islamist movement. "With the announcement [of their government] yesterday, the Taliban missed a critical opportunity to show the world that they are truly committed to building an inclusive and prosperous society," Davidian said. “Now is the time for the Taliban to show that it governs for all Afghans.” UN Women is an agency under the UN which works towards ensuring the equal rights of women and their empowerment globally. It had dramatically called out at Taliban during the 1996 to 2001 tenure, for squashing the women’s rights, and virtually excluding them from public spaces and restricting them in home confinement. 

“We are seeing through the protests that Afghan women will not give up their rights; they will not be erased,” Davidian said. “This is the engine for progress. These are the drivers for progress and accountability,” she added in her broadcast statement. 

[Women gather to demand their rights under the Taliban rule during a protest in Kabul, Afghanistan. Credit: AP]

UN Women agency express 'profound' disappointment at Taliban 

UN Women’s agency expressed “profound” disappointments at Taliban for ignoring the female participants in the transition government. Earlier, an assessment by the US National Intelligence Council had asserted that the Taliban would "roll back much of the past two decades of progress if it regains national power.” The nearly two-page report outlined the instances of the harsh and oppressive treatment of women and girls under the Taliban in 1996-2001. Women will have no access to education and might be prohibited from being seen in public without a male relative, the agency warned. "Progress (in women's rights) probably owes more to external pressure than domestic support, suggesting it would be at risk after coalition withdrawal, even without Taliban efforts to reverse it," the assessment on the declassified report read. 

Last month, women in Afghanistan's capital, Kabul flooded the streets in large turnout, protesting against the Taliban's take over. They covered up and painted their faces black as they marched in an armed protest and chanted anti-Taliban slogans in northern and central Afghanistan. Afghan women are facing the same problem as they did in the 1990s under the oppressive regime of the Taliban, but a lot has changed since and women will not be shut out any longer, Habiba Sarabi, women activist and former first Governor of Afghanistan told Republic Media Network in televised remarks.