“As a journalist, it is my job to bear witness,” says Zahra Nader, editor-in-chief of Zan Times, in a speech at the United Nations in New York City on Thursday, October 20. “The Taliban are terrorizing women and girls, and excluding and discriminating against Afghanistan’s diverse ethnic and religious group.” Nader says in her statement at the UN Security Council Open Debate on Women, Peace and Security.
What Nader and Zan Times are reporting helps confirm the fears of experts: Afghanistan is descending into authoritarianism and gender apartheid. As she explains, an estimated 20 million women and girls are being deprived of fundamental human rights because of their gender: “Women have been ordered to stay home. Girls have been banned from attending school above sixth grade. Women and girls have been banned from traveling alone — even riding in a taxi — without a male chaperone.”
“The Taliban view women protesters as the enemy, because they are exposing the depth and breadth of the Taliban’s abuse of the Afghan people,” Nader says. She tells of how Elaha Dilawarzai, an Afghan medical student, released a series of videos begging for help because a former spokesperson for the Taliban’s Ministry of Interior Affairs forced her into marriage, raped and tortured her. In a video that went viral, Dilawarzai warned, “After publishing this video, it’s possible that no one will see me again, I might die.” Her current whereabouts are unknown.
“The truth is that we don’t know — and will probably never know — the full extent of violations taking place,” Nader told the audience at the United Nations, “because UN monitoring is thin on the ground, the Afghan media, especially women journalists, have been crushed by the Taliban, and the international media has mostly left. And the Taliban have terrorized into silence anyone who dares to oppose them.” Zan Times interviewed people involved in the September 2021 anti-Taliban protests in Mazar-e-Sharif, who revealed how the Taliban have beaten, abducted, tortured, imprisoned, and killed women involved in those peaceful demonstrations.
“Afghan women have mobilized the most consistent and peaceful opposition to Taliban policies. Women have taken to the streets, as recently as this week, chanting “Bread, Work, Freedom,” a call that encapsulates our key demands,” says Nader. “By speaking out, Afghan women have become the main obstacle to what the Taliban crave most: recognition by the international community.”
The Taliban are also targeting marginalized communities, such as ethnic and religious groups and LGBTQI people, Nader says. In particular, the Hazaras are under systematic attack, with nearly 900 Hazaras killed or wounded in attacks since the Taliban returned to power. They aren’t alone. “The Taliban’s Pashtun leaders and their extremist interpretation of Islam have jeopardized the rights of not only Afghanistan’s Shia Muslims, but also Sufis, Ahmadis, Hindus, and Sikhs,” Nader says. In addition, she says, “A group of queer Afghans told us that the Taliban are hunting them down — adding a level of terror to their already dangerous existence.”
Frustratingly, the UN has “appeared stumped about what to do next,” says Nader. “When it comes to women, peace and security, there is a major gap here at the UN between words and action. And the Taliban have no respect for words.”
Zahra Nader urged the United Nations to pressure the Taliban to respect the human rights of all Afghans, to not grant them formal recognition and ensure they face consequences for their human rights abuses.
“What I can clearly see is that the Taliban have already done permanent harm to the women and girls of Afghanistan, and every day you fail to take action, that harm deepens,” Zahra Nader warns. She also notes that women in other conflict zones are watching: “If you fail to act in Afghanistan, women in Ethiopia, in Myanmar, in Sudan, in Yemen, will know that in the hands of the UN Security Council, women, peace, and security is nothing more than an empty promise.”
