They are not even three meters apart. Afghan journalist Beheshta Arghand and a Taliban press officer, Mawlawi Abdulhaq Hemad. For example, the whole world can see that the Taliban allows themselves to be interviewed by a woman on the Afghan news channel TOLONews. The same day, they also call on women to join a new government.
It is an image that fits the campaign that the Taliban have been conducting since they took power; show that they have become moderate. Women need not worry under the Taliban, a spokesman assured during their first press conference. But many women do worry. They no longer dare to speak out and do not take to the streets as a precaution.
“I am mainly at home. But it is clear that we women are going to lose our freedoms,” writes M. in a personal Instagram message from Kabul. There are hours, sometimes half days, between the contact. She writes back: “It’s scary for women to go out now”.
‘I feel empty inside’
Now that the Taliban have conquered Afghanistan, the future for Afghan women and girls is uncertain. The extremist group is known for being ultra conservative. Under their rule in the late 1990s, which lasted five years, girls were not allowed to go to school and women were not allowed to work outside the home. How realistic is it that the group has been modernized?
Young N., who we also spoke to via Instagram, also has strong doubts. N.’s timeline on Instagram is filled with happy, colorful portraits. The photo from yesterday is different: in it she sits with her back to the camera. “I’ve worked hard for my future. I gave everything for where I am now, but the Taliban want to destroy it. They want to take me back to 20 years ago,” the caption reads.
In a personal message, N. writes that she no longer goes to her office and does not actually go out. She is skeptical of the Taliban’s promises: “They have always broken their promises. We don’t believe it.” N.’s messages express anger at how the Afghans have been left to their own devices. “We are human beings too, we deserve to have a good life too.”
The Taliban have not yet knocked on her door, as has happened in other provinces. But she does see them outside on the street. The future is bleak for N., despite the words of the Taliban today. “I feel empty inside, like I have nothing left to live for.” She has no hope now, she writes.
At a news conference in Kabul, a Taliban spokesman said that women’s rights are respected, provided that they comply with Islamic law:
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