"A new law was passed by the Taliban's leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, banning women's voices from speaking in public. Ever since the Taliban rose to power in Afghanistan again in 2021 women’s rights have met their downfall. But how did Afghanistan get to the state it is today? And what is the Taliban's motive?" - Lilah Aparton, 7th grade
A new law was passed by the Taliban's leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada, banning women's voices from speaking in public. Ever since the Taliban rose to power in Afghanistan again in 2021 women’s rights have met their downfall. But how did Afghanistan get to the state it is today? And what is the Taliban's motive?
This law has been met with horror by human rights groups. The Taliban's efforts to seize power have caused the wellbeing of Afghanistan to plummet. Masoud Juya, an Afghan citizen living in the U.S. and the Associate Director for the Afghan Coalition says, “The return of the Taliban is a tragic setback for Afghanistan and a direct blow to the freedoms many Afghans fought for over the past two decades. The repression of individual rights, especially for women and minorities, represents an ideological regression that contradicts Afghanistan's aspirations to be a free and a just society. As someone who believes in equality and human rights for all, this takeover has silenced the dreams of millions of Afghan citizens, especially those who sought to build a more open, inclusive nation.” Not only does this law contradict the fundamental islamic values, it also violates all thirty pages of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
“The Taliban's goal of removing women from public life stems from an extreme interpretation of Sharia law, but it also reflects their desire to control society by enforcing traditional, patriarchal norms. By erasing women from the public sphere, the Taliban are trying to preserve their own authority by marginalizing half of the population. They view women’s independence as a threat to their rigid power structure, and by limiting women’s freedom, they maintain a system of control that benefits only a select group of men,” says Juya.
Afghanistan hasn’t always been like this. In the 1960’s the Taliban was practically non-existent and Afghanistan was actively undergoing a process of modernization and Westernization with newly paved roads, western architecture, and even cars. This period was often called the golden age of Afghanistan; women paired miniskirts with headscarves and had freedom to get an education, even university. But this period was short lived. In the 1980’s, conflicts within Afghanistan started taking place and Afghanistan became more and more corrupt as each year passed by. In 1994 the terrorist organization, The Taliban, was formed to, “aim to restore peace and security to Afghanistan, including Western troops leaving, and to enforce Sharia, or Islamic law, once in power.”
According to Juya, “In the 1960s, Afghanistan was a more progressive society with women playing an active role in public life, including education, employment, and politics. Women’s rights were enshrined in the constitution, and women even held positions in government and professions like medicine and law. Today, under Taliban rule, those rights have been entirely dismantled. Women are banned from pursuing education, forced out of work, and confined to their homes, making this period a dark chapter in Afghanistan’s modern history.”
But since the Taliban took over, women's voices haven’t been the only thing being restricted. Recently the Taliban created several laws which state that women must completely veil their bodies – including their faces – in thick clothing at all times in public to avoid leading men into temptation and vice.
Earlier this year, an ancient form of punishment was reintroduced to Afghanistan: flogging and stoning. In July of 2021, a woman in Faryab Province was beaten to death by Taliban militants and her house was set alight because she would not cook for a group of their fighters. A month later in August 2021, Afghan police reported that Taliban extremists had killed an Afghan woman in Balkh Province for wearing tight clothing and not being accompanied by a male relative. The Taliban denied the accusation and said they were investigating the incident. But these are just a few reported incidents out of tens of thousands showcasing Taliban extremists' efforts to restrict and confine women.
This law has been met with horror by human rights groups. The Taliban's efforts to seize power have caused the wellbeing of Afghanistan to plummet. Masoud Juya, an Afghan citizen living in the U.S. and the Associate Director for the Afghan Coalition says, “The return of the Taliban is a tragic setback for Afghanistan and a direct blow to the freedoms many Afghans fought for over the past two decades. The repression of individual rights, especially for women and minorities, represents an ideological regression that contradicts Afghanistan's aspirations to be a free and a just society. As someone who believes in equality and human rights for all, this takeover has silenced the dreams of millions of Afghan citizens, especially those who sought to build a more open, inclusive nation.” Not only does this law contradict the fundamental islamic values, it also violates all thirty pages of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
“The Taliban's goal of removing women from public life stems from an extreme interpretation of Sharia law, but it also reflects their desire to control society by enforcing traditional, patriarchal norms. By erasing women from the public sphere, the Taliban are trying to preserve their own authority by marginalizing half of the population. They view women’s independence as a threat to their rigid power structure, and by limiting women’s freedom, they maintain a system of control that benefits only a select group of men,” says Juya.
Afghanistan hasn’t always been like this. In the 1960’s the Taliban was practically non-existent and Afghanistan was actively undergoing a process of modernization and Westernization with newly paved roads, western architecture, and even cars. This period was often called the golden age of Afghanistan; women paired miniskirts with headscarves and had freedom to get an education, even university. But this period was short lived. In the 1980’s, conflicts within Afghanistan started taking place and Afghanistan became more and more corrupt as each year passed by. In 1994 the terrorist organization, The Taliban, was formed to, “aim to restore peace and security to Afghanistan, including Western troops leaving, and to enforce Sharia, or Islamic law, once in power.”
According to Juya, “In the 1960s, Afghanistan was a more progressive society with women playing an active role in public life, including education, employment, and politics. Women’s rights were enshrined in the constitution, and women even held positions in government and professions like medicine and law. Today, under Taliban rule, those rights have been entirely dismantled. Women are banned from pursuing education, forced out of work, and confined to their homes, making this period a dark chapter in Afghanistan’s modern history.”
But since the Taliban took over, women's voices haven’t been the only thing being restricted. Recently the Taliban created several laws which state that women must completely veil their bodies – including their faces – in thick clothing at all times in public to avoid leading men into temptation and vice.
Earlier this year, an ancient form of punishment was reintroduced to Afghanistan: flogging and stoning. In July of 2021, a woman in Faryab Province was beaten to death by Taliban militants and her house was set alight because she would not cook for a group of their fighters. A month later in August 2021, Afghan police reported that Taliban extremists had killed an Afghan woman in Balkh Province for wearing tight clothing and not being accompanied by a male relative. The Taliban denied the accusation and said they were investigating the incident. But these are just a few reported incidents out of tens of thousands showcasing Taliban extremists' efforts to restrict and confine women.
