“Every day it gets a little worse, if it continues like this we will be back to the situation of the 90s within a year,” 21-year-old Nabeela from Kabul told the NOS. She has taken to the streets in recent weeks to make her voice heard against the Taliban. The extremist group presented itself as more moderate than the last time they were in power, but a month later it becomes clear that many of the freedoms that Afghans had acquired are now in danger.
Women should not worry under the Taliban, a spokesman assured during his first press conference. For example, he promised that women would be allowed to continue to work and study this time. In the 1990s, burqas were compulsory, girls were no longer allowed to go to school and music was banned.
No top positions for women
Still, Nabeela is now very worried about her future. She studies business economics at university, but doesn’t know if she can finish her studies, let alone whether she will have a chance of a job there in the future. “The Taliban have already announced that women can no longer work in top positions.”
The future is also uncertain for the Afghan women’s national cricket team. Sports is banned and the strict dress code is back. Nabeela does have the obligatory black hijab in her closet, but postpones wearing it as long as possible.
Smarter and more radical
It is no surprise to women’s rights activist and founder of the Dutch foundation Femmes For Freedom Shirin Musa that the Taliban acted more moderate than it appears to be. “They pretend to be moderate, but that’s the Taliban’s narrative and it’s been adopted by Western media.”
According to her, the ‘new’ Taliban have been unfairly given the benefit of the doubt by the media. “But they are smarter, stronger and more radical than their predecessors. They have learned nice words that are doing well in the West, such as the promise for an inclusive government with room for women and minorities. But what they do in practice is very different. .” The new government in Afghanistan consists exclusively of men from one Pashto tribe.
Demonstrations
In recent weeks, Afghans in Kabul out on the street. They carried placards that read ‘no cabinet can ignore the presence of women!’ Protests were tolerated after the takeover, but that time seems to be over. Shots were fired in the air, tear gas was used to stop demonstrations.
It has also been seen on this video that demonstrating women were beaten with whips and sticks. Please note: these images can be experienced as shocking:
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