After the Taliban took power in Afghanistan in August last year, many feared for the country’s future.
Not long after taking power, Afghan women were deprived of important rights. Many women were denied work, and girls were no longer allowed to go to school.
– MEN’S KING: The heads of female mannequins in a clothing store in the city of Herat on 5 January this year. The Taliban have ordered shopkeepers to remove the heads of the mannequins. The Taliban claims it violates Islamic law. Photo: AFP
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Now women in the country describe the situation as worse than ever. In the last week, there has been an increasing number of reports of violence against women in Afghanistan.
– Some have been arrested and detained without knowing exactly where. There have been cases of this before as well, but there is a strong increase now, says Afghanistan expert and researcher at PRIO, Kristian Berg Harpviken, to TV 2.
– TALIBAN WARRIORS: Taliban members carry out a night patrol in Kabul on September 12 last year. Photo: Felipe Dana / AP
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– They’re going to kill us
Videos of women portraying women being treated by the Taliban abound on social media. TV 2 has translated one of the Twitter messages from Persian:
“Please help!”
“Taliban forces have come outside our house. Aaah. My sisters are home. We do not want you here. Please come tomorrow if you want to talk. Not so late at night. “
“Can’t let you in here with the girls. We do not want that. We can not open the door. Please! (The sister says and repeats: They are going to kill us.) »
#BREAKING: Taliban entered Tamana Paryani’s home in Kabul and arrested her. Tamana Parayani is one of the activists who protested against the Taliban on the streets of Kabul. pic.twitter.com/IqitmdAhTq
– Tajuden Soroush (@TajudenSoroush) January 19, 2022
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It is not possible for TV 2 to verify the information in the video. But TV 2 has asked Afghanistan expert, Kristian Berg Harpviken, if he knows about the new reports on how women activists are treated.
– I think this is a real deterioration. I do not think this is pure activism, says Harpviken.
Harpviken emphasizes, however, that it is challenging to determine whether this is a line controlled by the Taliban leadership, or whether it is the Taliban’s misleading policy.
– WORSHIP: Researcher at PRIO Kristian Berg Harpviken says that the situation for women in Afghanistan has worsened Photo: Gorm Kallestad / NTB
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– There may also be some groups and individuals in the movement who are behind it. This is still such a messy regime that it is very difficult to be sure.
– Even though it may be a single commander who does this without it being approved from the top, it does not mean that it is beaten down, Harpviken says.
Demonstration against hijab injunctions
The Taliban searched and searched the homes of the organizers behind the demonstrations in Kabul on Wednesday. Taliban men have beaten and arrested several women rights activists, writes The Guardian.
– This is a very big concern, Harpviken emphasizes.
Armed Taliban members stormed an apartment in Kabul on Wednesday night and arrested a well-known woman activist and her three sisters, writes NTB.
Tamana Zaryabi Paryani was one of around 25 women who last Sunday took part in a demonstration to protest against the Taliban’s demand that all women must wear the hijab in public.
– ANGRY: Afghan women activists demand that the Taliban allow girls and women to go to school in Kabul. Picture is from September 3 last year. Photo: Reuters.
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A spokesman for the Taliban-controlled intelligence service, Khalid Hamraz, will neither confirm nor deny the arrest, but wrote on Twitter that “insults to the religious and national values of the Afghan people will no longer be tolerated.”
An eyewitness in the neighborhood says that around ten armed men took part in the operation against Paryani. They claimed to come from the Taliban’s intelligence service, writes the news agency NTB.
Women activists have staged a series of demonstrations in Afghanistan in recent months. They are protesting, among other things, for the Taliban’s order to wear the hijab, and for girls’ right to go to school.
– PROTESTING: Women activists demonstrate in Kabul. Picture is from December 28 last year. ) Photo: MOHD RASFAN / AFP
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– The Taliban has in fact said that they will reopen all universities that are for women during the spring, Harpviken says.
Taliban to Norway
On Friday it became known that Norway has invited representatives from the Taliban to Norway. They arrive on Sunday and stay for three days. This is the first time the Taliban has sent a delegation to a Western country to negotiate, since taking power in Afghanistan.
– We want to be clear in our expectations of the Taliban, especially when it comes to girls’ schooling and human rights such as women’s participation in society, said Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt (Labor) in a statement on Friday.
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