US Oversight authority slams Taliban for denying sports & medical access for women

Amid the deteriorating condition of women and soaring human rights violations observed in Afghanistan, the United States government's leading oversight authority on Afghanistan reconstruction has reacted sharply to the recent developments concerning the same. According to a report by Tolo News, the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) slammed the dual policy of the Taliban regime on women. Notably, the SIGAR was reacting to the reports by Human Rights Watch (HRW) that stated that the Taliban has imposed curbs on sports activities and access to medical services for women and girls ever since it assumed control over the war-torn nation.

"According to Human Rights Watch, there have been a number of concerning reports, including Taliban bans on women's sports, limited women's access to health care due to Taliban rules requiring women to be chaperoned by a man," SIGAR said as reported by Tolo News.

Notably, in the last week of December 2021, the Ministry of Virtue and Vice addressed a letter to all the women athletes wherein it directed women not to visit sports and health centres alone. The Ministry recommended women can "visit the places along with a male companion."

While speaking to Tolo News, several women athletes called out the Taliban's policy against women and the athletes who have been long representing Afghanistan at the international level. The women athletes stated that the current scenario is challenging for them. While narrating her ordeal, Ramzieya Saedi, who is a member of the Rostami wrestling team and the national Taekwondo team, accused the Taliban government of the worst phase the sports sector is undergoing in the country.

Taliban passed a series of controversial orders against women

According to Saedi, she has been practising wrestling and Taekwondo for ten years. She had also partaken in international competitions. However, for the past five months, after the Taliban gained control of Afghanistan, her sports engagement remains completely halted. "We, the youth, have a very small demand for the Islamic Emirate: Hear our voice, our future belongs to you right now, but we cannot raise our voices too much," she said. Meanwhile, Khal Bibi, one of the internally displaced people who lost her husband in the Kunduz conflict nearly three years ago said that she is worried that she will not be able to travel alone for her medical treatment, reported Tolo News. "My husband was martyred in Kunduz, in the wars, he had a scar on his head, and I myself have a scar on my leg too. My husband and my two-year-old son were beaten and martyred. I have not had a shelter for two and a half years," she said. It is pertinent to mention here that the Taliban passed a series of controversial orders against women after they assumed power. Earlier in December last year, the Taliban ordered to remove all the banners and posters that featured pictures of women.

With inputs from ANI

Image: AP