Just in: What happened in Afghanistan? | UMSU Press

As the U.S. forces withdrew from Afghanistan, the Taliban reoccupied most of Afghanistan's land at an alarming rate. On August 15, the Taliban attacked the capital Kabul and occupied the presidential palace. The Afghan President, Ashraf Ghani has fled abroad and the Afghan government has officially fallen.

The Taliban is an extreme Islamic emirate, mainly active in Afghanistan and Pakistan. After the Taliban rose to occupy Afghanistan in the late 1990s, they used brutal methods to govern the Afghan people in which the Taliban carried out public executions, chopped off the hands of thieves and stoned women accused of adultery. Women who broke the rules sometimes suffered humiliation and public beatings by the Taliban's religious police. 

With the overthrow of the Taliban regime in 2001, the Afghan people had a better life for the time being, and the feminist movement developed. After the Taliban returned to power, the nightmare returned. Tens of thousands of Afghan people tried their best to escape from Afghanistan, and the Kabul airport was full; in order to escape, people even climbed onto US military transport planes.

“We are going to allow women to work and study. We have got frameworks, of course. Women are going to be very active in the society but within the framework of Islam,” Zabihullah Mujahid, the group’s spokesman, said at a press conference in Kabul on 17 August. Nevertheless, there is no sign that the Taliban will let Afghan women go.

The existence of women is almost wiped out. The Taliban forced women to wear all-enveloping burqas, and they were not allowed to leave home without a male escort. Women are also prohibited from going to school or working, with very few exceptions. The Guardian also published a report that female university students in the capital were evacuated by the police as the Taliban would beat women who did not wear a burqa. 

Besides, numerous reports have emerged of the Taliban going door-to-door, drafting lists of women and girls aged between 12 and 45 years who are then forced to marry Islamist fighters.     The reports pointed out that after the Taliban occupied Jowzjan province (Jowzjan), they closed girls’ schools with some few exceptions. The Taliban’s message: Teenage girls should be at home helping their mothers. 

Zarifa Ghafari, the first female mayor of Afghanistan, cried desperately as she could only wait for the Taliban to come and kill her yet couldn't do anything else. Recently, a video of an Afghan girl crying and this recording has been circulating on all social media. She mentioned that they will die slowly in history and will not be noticed. 

After the Taliban swept into Kabul, the posters depicting women were even whitewashed. Extremists who can't even respect women's autonomy and equality, let alone women's rights.

When facing war, terrorism and humanitarian crisis, what we should do is not to turn a blind eye to the issue but to voice solidarity with the community. Always remember: Know your rights, protect your rights and fight for your rights. 


Compiled References:
https://linkmix.co/5928251
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​Written by Secretary of Current Affairs 2021/2022

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