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Women and gender
OpinionComment
Akanksha Khullar
Akanksha Khullar

Opinion | After a year of Taliban rule, Afghan women are systematically disappearing from public life

  • Following the US’ withdrawal, the Taliban government has significantly limited women’s ability to earn a living, access education and escape violence
  • The international community must act rather than merely condemning the erosion of Afghan women’s rights

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An Afghan woman leaves an underground school which she attends with her daughter, in Kabul, Afghanistan, on July 30. Photo: AP
Akanksha Khullar

Following the US invasion of Afghanistan in 2001, women in the war-torn country were granted more rights than they had previously had under the Taliban regime, and they enjoyed a measure of freedom, in terms of how they wanted to dress, and where they wanted to study and work.

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But since the United States’ chaotic withdrawal from the country last year, the situation has changed dramatically, with Afghan women once again suffering a significant and rapid rollback of their rights.
Since the Taliban took back control of Afghanistan last August, for most Afghan women, each passing day has seemingly brought a deterioration in their condition, their rights and their sociopolitical status. This is despite the group’s early pledge to protect and honour women’s rights.

The Taliban’s strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law has, in fact, left no room in public life for women, who comprise around 48 per cent of the country’s population.

In backtracking on its promise to allow girls to attend high school, the Taliban has imposed a de facto ban on their secondary and higher education. Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls are banned from going to high school.
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By replacing the Women’s Affairs Ministry with the Ministry for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, the Taliban has dismantled the system that was designed to respond to gender-based violence. It has also failed to appoint any women to its new cabinet, effectively denying women their right to take part in the country’s political life.

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