The withdrawal of United States soldiers from Afghanistan in August 2021 led not only to a Taliban takeover but to chaos in the country, with women among the worst affected by the change.
In a new report drawing on secret documents from the US State and Defence Departments, the Biden Administration blames former President Donald Trump and his administration for this chaos. Angered at the accusations, Republicans have asked to see all the paperwork, seeking to draw their own conclusions.
All the while, the United Nations and Western countries condemn the Taliban’s decision to prevent Afghan women from working in international organisations.
Last week, it barred women from working at the UN. Sadly, this continues a trend.
The Taliban had already banned Afghan girls from attending secondary school or university.
The Taliban has banned Afghan women from working at the United Nations in Afghanistan, adding another restriction to the list the Taliban has imposed on Afghan women since retaking power in August 2021. https://t.co/3GV9OleY3F
— ABC News (@ABC) April 8, 2023
According to the Taliban’s Minister of Higher Education, Sheikh Nada Muhammad Nadim this is on the basis of non-compliance with Islamic dress codes and the absence of a male mahram (male family member to accompany the woman).
That is not all. After the US left, Afghan women were banned from exercising, going to gyms and public parks, travelling without a mahram, and wearing the hijab or burqa outside their homes.
Impact on female medical access
Among the more acute problems caused by the Taliban’s ban on women in university last December is the lack of trained female medical staff.
This is becoming a crisis. Without access to higher education, the number of female graduates in specialised fields has dwindled and is continuing to decline. Afghan women now worry about a shortage of female doctors to treat them, exacerbating the country’s current humanitarian crisis.
The Taliban’s consistent gender-based discrimination is always met with swift condemnation from the UN and the West, who seem surprised every time an extremist organisation aligned with Al Qaeda denies women rights or freedoms.
5 key moments for women's rights under Taliban-ruled Afghanistan.#AFPGraphics timeline showing the Taliban's move towards a hardline position against the education of women and their rights in Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/Uqo1KTp8Jy
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) April 6, 2023
After the Taliban’s return to power, two decades after the fall of its first spell in power, the group claimed to have changed its ways, sending messages of reassurance, particularly regarding women’s rights.
A member of the Taliban Cultural Committee, Inamullah Samangani, even said that women should join the new government, or ‘The Islamic Emirate’, which is the Taliban’s term for their rule in Afghanistan.
Leopards don’t change their spots
However, while these untruths may have shocked some, the Taliban’s lies came as a no surprise to the Afghan people, least of all to Afghan women.
The world watched as thousands of Afghans tried to flee as the Taliban regained control, with 640 people crammed onboard a US military cargo plane - the highest number of passengers ever transported on this aircraft type. Some even tried clinging to the wheels of departing planes.
