Afghan women: The largest imprisoned population in the world
This year marks the fourth International Women’s Day in which the Taliban have imprisoned Afghan women and girls inside their homes. Since the Taliban emerged as an Islamist armed group in 1994, they became notorious for their anti-women policies. During their first stint in power from 1996 to 2001, they banned women’s education and work and unleashing their zealot religious police onto the streets, thrashing women with cables if they were unaccompanied by a mahram or if they failed to adhere to the Taliban’s regressive dress code – women were forced to wear all-encompassing burqas and shoes that made no sound.
Since their return to power in 2021, the Taliban have relentlessly pursued the same misogynist policies aimed at making women invisible – making them disappear from public life and imprisoning them inside their homes. In their first week back in power, they banned women from public employment. In the first month, they banned girls’ education beyond grade six. By the four-month mark, they banned women from travelling without a mahram or male chaperone. Each day, the Taliban introduce a new decree, a new ban, or another new restriction aimed at women.
Just when we thought we had seen everything, in August 2024, the Taliban introduced yet another shocking decree: banning women’s voices from being heard in public. They declared women’s voices to be aurat — something that must be concealed. This effectively criminalized women’s right to speak in public spaces or talk to strangers.
The Taliban are still dissatisfied. They believe that sharia law has not yet been fully implemented. Their leader, Mullah Hibatullah, regularly vows to create conditions for a pure Islamic system, and the full implementation of sharia. The Taliban’s sharia system is characterized by corporal punishments, public executions, and floggings. While we have already witnessed several public executions and thousands of floggings, the Taliban have promised the world that even greater brutality is coming – Hibatullah vows that women would soon be publicly stoned to death.
The Taliban’s core leadership insists on establishing their ideal society, which has been outlined in their vice and virtue law, which not only forbids women’s voices but also forbids pictures and videos. There is no doubt that the Taliban are facing difficulties in fully implementing their policies. They cannot even implement it on their rank and file and cadre.
Mullah Hibatullah regularly rages against taking pictures. He does not allow his picture to be taken. The vice and virtue law prohibits images of living beings. Yet several ministers regularly pose for photos and videos to produce online propaganda. These contradictions have fueled speculation that a “moderate wing” exists within the Taliban, which offers a“best hope for change.”
There have always been voices within and outside Afghanistan who argue that if such “moderate” elements within the Taliban could manage to take charge, soften their policies, and form an “inclusive government,” their emirate becomes acceptable.
This belief stems from the assumption that the people of Afghanistan are doomed to live under the Taliban. It fails to imagine an alternative scenario in which the people of can live in peace and a normal situation. To accept that the Taliban mullahcracy is the inevitable fate of the people of Afghanistan is to deny their humanity and their capacity and right to determine their situation. This hopelessness leads to intellectual slumber and political defeat, which will prolong Taliban oppression.
Therefore, we should appraise our people’s resilience and cherish and strengthen the dynamic and creative ways they have used to defy the Taliban and keep hope alive. We must also understand that the Taliban, regardless of their minor internal differences, are a movement and ideology that is unified in their desire to establish a theocratic tyranny. That tyranny is designed to deny women their humanity, discriminate against ethnic minorities, and wage war on the people, science, and modern education.
At its core, Taliban rule is based on the disenfranchisement of the people. Their doctrine envisions a society where only the supreme leader dictates public and social policies, while the population remains silent and submissive. Therefore, they are at odds with the fundamental interests of the people of the country.
As we celebrate this year’s International Women’s Day, we must acknowledge that progressive and democratic values are under attack worldwide. Misogyny, transphobia, racism, and fascism are on the rise. It is important to remind ourselves that if people won’t be vigilant about their rights and their right to govern themselves, there will always be forces eager to strip them away.
Therefore, if the people of Afghanistan — especially women — are to reclaim their humanity, they must work and plan to take charge of their collective destiny: to build a peaceful, democratic Afghanistan beyond the Taliban. Only by building a democratic and secular society, can the people of Afghanistan achieve peace, human rights and freedom.
