Opinion | Helpless Woman of Afghanistan

What life is like under the Taliban, some of the biggest changes in years were the targeted changes for women only and so the women came out enchanting”Bread, Work and Freedom”.

The image of women is often perceived and shaped by challenges, oppression, restricted mobility and passive decision making. The scenario becomes worse when extremist nations are analysed. One such example is presented by an Afghan woman under the Taliban Regime.
No school, no work, no parks, no gyms, no salons, no divorce, no speaking in public, no showing your face, no healthcare without a female provider and no travel without a male chaperon that’s how 14 million people live in afghanistan, women and girls who have been largely erased from society slowly but surely since 2021 the battle of kabul when the US backed government collapsed and in a lightning takeover the Taliban took over control of Afghanistan in just over three years, the islamists group has curtailed women’s rights, banned them from nearly every aspect of public life and today women are virtually invisible from afghan public life but now they cant be visible in private either. The Taliban’s repressive policies have restricted women, limiting their access to education, employment and Healthcare. Women are subjected to strict rules regarding their mobility, behaviour and appearance.
The condition for women in Afghanistan is complicated, culturally, religiously and historically which shape their roles in the society.
In recent years Afghan women were banned from hearing each other, her voice being completely muted. She has been erased from public life, from schools, universities, workplaces. The discrimination is not only having strict rules for one gender but is a self harm at national scale. The half of the positions has been cutted down from the workforce plunging the country into deeper poverty. It seems the government of the Taliban has become the government by the Taliban and for Taliban and of the Taliban.

They have imposed a new ban, a fair warning. They seem to be running out of things to ban, so are getting creative. This time they have banned windows not the microsoft kind but actual physical windows and not all of them just the ones that expose women. The windows that overlook neighbourhood homes with women inside and allow their visibility in private spaces. Basically women can exist but they must be invisible even in their own homes obviously so based on common sense Taliban leaders have urged people to take a practical test, “a window test” so to mention. If one is constructing a home, they have to make sure there are no windows overlooking places where they can spot women, which can be called Taliban logic.
According to a Taliban spokesperson, “seeing a woman working in kitchens, in courtyards or collecting water from wells can lead to obscene acts”. What’s not obscene is being a part of the Taliban, a member of their government. They can arrest afghan women and girls for begging, detain them under draconian laws, brutally rape and beat them in jail thats apparently not obscene to them. In Fact since the Taliban came to power more than 300 women have been killed by men, more than 840 women have faced violence by men and in more than half of these cases taliban officials were involved and these were the only registered cases. Afghanistan has a lowest maternal safety, women are suffering a pandemic of suicidal thoughts. There are more than 3 million Afghan refugee women. Women are banned from directly looking at men, they risk getting stoned, raped, beaten, kidnapped, detained and even dying on a daily basis in this country but that is not the problem windows overlooking them they must be blocked. Afghanistan is the most restrictive country in the world for women despite this the world is opening to the Taliban. To this day no country officially recognizes Taliban as lawful authorities in Afghanistan but this year they have scored a number of diplomatic entries. Dozens of countries have welcomed Taliban diplomats, some sent officials to Kabul, some secure trade deals. There has even been talk of removing the Taliban from terrorism list. This is victory for the group and a major blow for Afghan women, they make up half a nation they are suffocating and now their windows are being taken away.

The approach of alienation has pushed women into isolation. Instead of focusing on good governance, the government seems to be obsessed with hijabs and clothing of women. Every Afghan woman and girl may have their own take on what’s going on around them but listening to few of their opinions over multiple sources made us understand certain aspects of the country.
Firstly the name of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs has been replaced by the Ministry of Vice and Virtue indicating, her existence needs no political intervention and keeping her personal and private.
Women are not allowed to travel long distances without close male relatives and women had to cover their faces fully while in public. Thousands of women have been stopped from going back to government jobs then comes the issue of girls’ education. Girls in Afghanistan can go to primary schools and university but not attend secondary education. These rules are not complete in black and white but there seem to be some inconsistency with how the Taliban is enforcing and applying them. According to the stakeholders and decision makers of Afghanistan they say: “the restriction is temporary, it’s not an official policy hence holds no permanence”.
According to spokesperson of the Ministry of Vice and Virtue, Sadiq Akif Muhajr, “Islam has given women the permission for education, permission to work, if Islam has allowed it, who are we to restrict women”, the reality being Around 8,50,000 teenage girls have missed out on formal education since the Taliban took over. The question arises, then why are there all these restrictions? Why are women relegated to four walls and those who have no male support are compelled to beg for their children.
Well, the Taliban have given different reasons like there are problems with girls’ school uniforms and they are working out how to separate men and women in government offices. Currently we don’t even have many buildings and we are working on it. People’s opinion and reaction being “it’s been twelve months now the government is coming up with silly excuses”.
The women are asked if they are afraid to talk and raise their voices- they mention it’s about something right- the Islamic emirates say that they like to hear the truth. They are living according to Islamic law at least with their interpretation of it.

Every Afghan woman questions the world. For what reason do they shut doors on us? Are we not humans? Are we not even entitled to basic human rights?

This is a forgotten war and this war has only one loser “The Women of Afghanistan”.

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