A Story of Oppression: How Afghans Continue to Struggle for Liberty
On 20th December 2022, the Taliban struck once again as their Ministry of Higher Education declared that Afghan women would now be banned from studying at universities. To be brief, the Taliban is a militant political organization claiming to hold strong beliefs in Islam and emerged in the early 1900s after the fall of communism in Afghanistan.
The Americans believed that the tragic terrorist attack on the twin towers (9/11) was caused by the terrorist group al-Qaeda, which was known to be harbored in Afghanistan. This was used as the basis of the Afghan War, as the Americans retaliated on December 2001 and stripped power off the Taliban.
After two decades of War, American president Joe Biden finally decided to withdraw troops, and by 15th August 2021, the Taliban have overthrown the Afghan government and taken over Kabul, the capital city.
Ever since then, they have made reforms based on the Sharia Law (body of Islamic law) that have shocked the world.
Many human rights principles have eroded with them. With their influence over the court system in Afghanistan, they have ordered judges to follow their version of Islamic Sharia Law. This has encouraged and allowed public executions, flogging, and an increase in amputations (the surgical removal of a part of the body).
Elyas Nawandish, an Afghan journalist, talked about how drastically the rights of journalists changed within the span of a year. Earlier, under the rule of a Republic government, article 34 of the law stated that freedom of speech was protected. Publishing content was allowed “without first submitting it to government officials”, and every Afghan had the right to express his or her opinion.
Now, despite the Taliban’s consistent claims about practicing the law, it is evident that they put massive efforts into controlling the media in Afghanistan. Many have spoken out about occasionally being threatened by the Taliban with the words “We pull the tongue out of your deep throat”. With that, journalists are starting to lose the power of their voices, and are looking to flee the country.
However, the most affected by the reign of the Taliban are the women. Afghan women have lost many critical human rights since the Taliban regained power.
For one, their access to healthcare has been completely reformed. Female workers in the healthcare industry were completely banned from entering their workplace, leaving 22 hospitals in Kabul significantly short-staffed. Female patients in the city were not allowed to use the same hospital as men and were forced to go to a single, isolated medical center instead.
This facility, despite being the only one available to women in the entire city, lacked many needs and had insufficient quantities of equipment. It was given only 35 beds, without any oxygen, electricity, or clean water.
Women were also deprived of the basic human right to education. Most women were only allowed to learn up to primary school, being banned from both middle and high school. They have recently been banned from universities as well. Employment is also almost entirely forbidden for Afghan women.
There are several other restrictions imposed on them. They are prohibited from going to public baths, fairs, gyms, and parks entirely. In general, they cannot go anywhere in public without a male escort, which has proven to cause extremely difficult situations for those with no living male relative. Furthermore, they have been forced to wear their Hijab at all times and keep themselves covered entirely. Rates of child marriage have also increased.
This is injustice and a big step back from every right that was fought for. In today’s world, we live in a society where signs of a developing country include an increase in human rights, particularly those for women. The basic needs of women have been entirely neglected by the Taliban.
So how do they even justify all this?
They use the same excuse every time, claiming that this is the Sharia Law and that they are just doing what Islam has led them to. However, despite the Quran stating that women should dress modestly whilst leaving the house, nowhere does it say that they should be dispossessed of education, healthcare, and other basic human rights.
The Taliban have been condemned by the UN and several other nations for their actions many times. Heavy sanctions on trade have been imposed on them, promising loss to their country as financial help is much needed.
After all, Afghanistan has been at war for twenty years and requires a lot of boost in economic activity. According to OCHA, the poverty rate increased from 47% in 2020 to 70% in 2021 and reached a shocking 97% in 2022.
In a time like this, is it not more important to encourage females to work, and to ensure that more people get the right to education? Afghanistan is in a severe state of peril, and the Taliban with their unhumanitarian views are causing more trouble than aid.
All we can do is hope, pray and watch as we see this crisis continue to unfold.
By: Jasmehar Kaur
