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The Beginning of the Dark Chapter in the Lives of Women and Girls After the Taliban Came to Power

  • Ariahn Raya
  • Jun 21
  • 4 min read
© 2024/AP Photos/Fariba Akbari via AP Images
© 2024/AP Photos/Fariba Akbari via AP Images
Girls Deprived of Education: They impose Sharia on us, but the women and girls of the Taliban are studying in the West without hijab.

Girls whose right to education and learning has been taken away by the gender-exclusive and misogynistic Taliban government complain about the group’s double standards, saying that after the fall of the republican system and the Taliban’s rise to power, a dark chapter began in the lives of Afghan women and girls.


They say that on one hand, the Taliban, by issuing their illegitimate decrees, have declared education and learning forbidden for women and girls based on their self-made Sharia, while on the other hand, the women and girls of this group are studying without hijab in Western universities and schools under American supervision.


Sajida, a girl deprived of education, has turned to a weaving workshop to escape the trap of being confined at home and psychological problems. While hatred toward the Taliban and sorrow over her lost dreams are visible on her face, she says in a choked voice that the Taliban, by closing the school gates, have not only taken away her right to education but have also buried her alive.


She describes the beginning of the Taliban’s gender-exclusive rule as the start of a dark chapter in the lives of women and girls in Afghanistan: “From the day the Taliban took power, the dark chapter of life for us women and girls began. The Taliban have buried me and all Afghan girls alive, because when we do not have the right to study and learn, when we do not have the right to go outside the house, then there is no difference from being buried alive.”


She raises her voice, woven with hatred, anger, and despair, and says: “The Taliban only impose and enforce their self-made Islam on us. Today, look at the daughters of these self-righteous men studying abroad without hijab, not in an Islamic school, but under the supervision of American and Western teachers; yet for us, they issue a decree declaring education forbidden.”


It is not only Sajida who is submerged in the waves of despair, but also Mursal, who has withered like a marigold flower under the Taliban’s ban. With a deep sigh torn from her heart, she says the Taliban are playing with the fate of millions of women and girls in the country.


“I will never forget the last day of school. I cried a lot that day. I will never forget how the Taliban played with my fate and that of millions like me, and they continue with this game. Why should women be confined to the home? While the Taliban taking their women to restaurants.”


Mursal, who has taken red threads in her hand to weave a loofah bag, stops working and says with a voice full of grief, mixed with anger and rage: “Are the women and girls of Afghanistan curtains to be kept inside the house, or utensils in the kitchen? By closing the doors of schools and universities, the Taliban have not only confined girls to their homes but have turned homes into graveyards for the living dead.”


After a brief pause, she wipes away a tear and continues: “All that’s left is for the Taliban to say in a few days that women are not allowed to breathe and that, according to Sharia, women must be buried alive. All these decrees originate from and are issued based on the Taliban’s self-made Sharia.”


In another corner of this weaving workshop is Nazanin, another 10th-grade student who found her way to this workshop with the guidance and help of her classmates.


She says that while the rights of women and girls have been taken away by the Taliban, most of them are afraid to speak about the bans or criticize the group for fear of being arrested by the Taliban.


“Even we cannot raise our voices, because they have taken that right from us too. If the Taliban even find out that we are talking about our rights, they arrest and torture us. Hundreds of women and girls in the country are rotting in Taliban prisons for the same crime of demanding or expressing their rights.”


Nazanin, referring to her own life situation and that of other girls, says her only dream was to become a doctor and serve the people, a dream that has now ended with thread and needle in weaving.


“I only hoped and wished to become a doctor and serve my people, but what I see today and the work I do here is very different. Although I have come here for not surrendering to the Taliban’s rules, I hate doing this job. The only thing that gives me strength to come here is the presence of other girls in the workshop and our refusal to bow to the oppression of the Taliban, who try to keep us confined at home.”


According to women and girls, in the nearly four years since the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, a dark and difficult chapter has been written for women and girls by this group, and every day with the issuance of their misogynistic decrees, life becomes harder for girls.


This is while human rights organizations and various countries around the world have continuously spoken out against the inhumane treatment of women and girls by the Taliban and have shown strong reactions, but so far no country or international organization has taken any effective action to free women and girls from the trap of the Taliban’s restrictions.


 
 
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