Photo: AFP via Daily Sabah While the Taliban refer to the fourth anniversary of their return to power as "Independence Day", this day is a reminder of the beginning of a dark chapter, filled with restrictions and repression, for Afghan women and girls. Four years ago, on August 15, 2021, Kabul fell and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan collapsed completely. The Taliban entered the Presidential Palace and announced the beginning of a new phase of their rule, a rule that, according to many women, has been accompanied by "forced confinement at home, education bans, forced marriages, and systematic oppression". Women and girls under Taliban rule call August 15 a day of mourning and the start of a dark era in Afghanistan’s history. Mursal, a 22-year-old girl from Nimroz, says that August 15 is nothing but a "black date" for her. Before the return of the Taliban, she was a law student at a private university, but now she is confined at home and hopeless about her future. "My dreams collapsed in a single day. I was deprived of university, lost my job, and I am even deprived of the right to go outside without a male guardian. This date is a day of mourning for us, not a day of celebration." Forced Marriages: The Stolen Life Dream of Afghan Girls During the four years of Taliban rule, a number of girls in various provinces of the country have been forced into marriage. Sharifa, a 19-year-old girl from Ghor province, told a Zan News reporter: "They threatened my father that if he did not give his daughter to one of their members, there would be serious consequences. I had no right to decide about my life. Today I live with a man I never imagined… I never even thought I would face a Talib, let alone sleep in the same bed with him at night." Closed School Doors and a Lost Generation Since December 2022, the doors of schools and universities have been closed to girls. Thousands of girls who dreamed of education and participating in society are now trapped behind the walls of their homes like prisoners, filled with sorrow and longing. Malalai, a former teacher at a girls’ school in Farah city, told Zan News: "We are witnessing a lost generation. This is an injustice that history will not forget. Girls who were supposed to be the builders of the future are now imprisoned within the high walls of their homes." Silent and Resilient Struggles of Girls Under the Taliban Flag Despite severe repression, Afghan women have not surrendered. Scattered protests, online campaigns, and the voices of protesters abroad reflect a silent but resilient struggle in defense of the rights of women and girls. One female activist from Ghazni province, who wished to remain anonymous for security reasons, told Zan News: "We may not be on the streets or in the public eye, but our voices have not been silenced. History will judge, and one day we will raise the three-colored flag once again. We stand in solidarity with the voices of Afghan women abroad. Truth has always prevailed and always will." End of the Report, but the Beginning of a Cry For the Taliban, August 15 may be a day of victory, but for millions of Afghan women and girls, this day symbolizes the beginning of devastation. Four years have passed since the Taliban regained power in Afghanistan, yet each day the space for women and girls has grown narrower, with millions of them sinking deeper every day into the darkness of the Taliban’s misogynistic decrees.

Photo: Egeland's X Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, has expressed deep concern about the current situation in Afghanistan, saying that years of progress, particularly in women’s and girls’ rights, “have been erased before the eyes of the world” since the Taliban’s takeover. He made these remarks on Thursday (August 14) in a video message, warning that the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan is expanding. According to him, governments and international institutions must step in to support civilians, especially women and girls, through humanitarian aid, development programs, and the return of diplomats. Egeland also highlighted the ongoing return of Afghan migrants from Iran and Pakistan and stressed that the international community must not abandon the Afghan people in these difficult circumstances. These statements come as the Taliban, over the past four years, have imposed severe restrictions, banning girls above grade six from education and women from attending universities. Despite repeated global appeals to uphold human and women’s rights, the Taliban have yet to respond positively to any of these demands.

Source: Shia Waves The Afghanistan Independent Media Support Organization (NAI), welcoming the recent report of the United States Department of State on the human rights situation in Afghanistan, has said that this report only reflects part of the reality and that the situation of freedom of expression in the country is far worse than stated. In a statement, the organization said that at present, there is practically no freedom of expression in Afghanistan and the Taliban not only do not recognize this right, but have turned the media into their propaganda tool. NAI added that journalists and media workers in various parts of Afghanistan have been tortured by the Taliban, some have been secretly imprisoned, and in some cases their families have been extorted. According to the statement, media managers have also been forced to sign written commitments that their content will be in favor of the Taliban, and these media outlets must inform the group’s intelligence before publishing any content. NAI emphasized that media outlets operating under Taliban rule are no different from media outlets affiliated with the group, and in some cases, they are even forced to work more in the interest of the group than the Taliban’s own media. The organization described the current state of the media as a “silent catastrophe” and said that the Taliban are trying to gradually and falsely present this bitter reality to the international community.

Social Media The Taliban in the provinces of Sar-e-Pul and Laghman have flogged 24 people, including five women, on charges such as extramarital relations, running away from home, phone conversations, and premeditated murder. The Supreme Court of this group announced yesterday (August 13) that 21 of these individuals, including four women, were punished in Gosfandi district of Sar-e-Pul province. In addition to flogging, these individuals were sentenced to prison terms ranging from eight months to three years. Three other individuals, including one woman, were also flogged in Alishing district of Laghman province on charges of running away from home and theft. It is worth noting that since returning to power in 2021, the Taliban have widely resumed punishments such as public flogging, an act that has consistently drawn strong reactions from international organizations and human rights defenders.

Sent to Zan TV Written by Arzo Gardizi, Human Rights Activist For three years now, we have been waking up each morning to the image of locked school gates, and going to sleep each night with the memory of the cries of “Bread, Work, Freedom” that once filled the streets. During this time, the women who came to the streets faced every danger; threats, beatings, imprisonment, and even displacement. But they never stepped back. They proved that courage means standing when everyone wants you to sit, and speaking when everyone wants you to be silent. This stand is not only for education and work; it is to reclaim dignity and the right to live freely. Today, as we approach August 15 once again, we honor the memory of all the women who turned the streets into the frontlines of freedom. And we promise all the young girls of this land: This voice will never be silenced. The future will one day be ours.

Photo: AP Photo/Safiullah Zahir The Taliban in Ghazni have announced that, based on the order of Hibatullah Akhundzada, the group’s leader, holding public funeral and condolence ceremonies for individuals who commit suicide is prohibited. Abdul Samad Javid, the Taliban governor of Ghazni, has ordered all departments of the group in this province to prevent the holding of such ceremonies. According to the statement from the Taliban governor’s office in Ghazni, this decree was issued directly by the Taliban leader and all institutions under the group’s control are obliged to implement it. This decree is issued at a time when, since the Taliban’s return to power, suicide rates in Afghanistan, especially among women and youth, have increased significantly. Poverty, unemployment, economic hardship, hopelessness about the future, and mental illnesses are cited as the main causes of these cases. The prohibition on holding condolence and funeral ceremonies for individuals who commit suicide comes while the Taliban have repeatedly honored their suicide bombers in public ceremonies and given cash and land to their families. While the Taliban consider individual suicide a “sin,” they describe suicide bombings as “martyrdom” and glorify them.

Photo: AP via the independent The United States Department of State, in its annual human rights report, has announced that the United Nations documented the recruitment of 342 children by the Taliban as soldiers in 2023. According to the report, which was published on Tuesday (August 12), 150 boys were used in combat and 192 other boys served in support roles. These cases were recorded despite the fact that the Taliban leader had previously issued a decree banning the use of children in the group’s ranks. The State Department report also says that in 2023, about 30 children between the ages of 10 and 18 were recruited into a Taliban military training center in Badakhshan province. Between April 2023 and March 2024, armed groups affiliated with the Taliban also recruited or used child soldiers. In addition, the report addresses the rise of child marriage in Afghanistan, stating that this trend has intensified due to the deprivation of girls from education and the suppression of women’s rights by the Taliban. Citing the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), it notes that 38 percent of Afghan women were married before reaching the age of 18.

Four years after the Taliban regained control of Afghanistan, the lives of thousands of girls have turned into a dark nightmare, a nightmare that began with the closing of the gates of education and learning, and has reached a painful yet unfinished point in forced marriages. Millions of young girls who, until four years ago, spoke together about their girlish dreams in universities, schools, and educational centers, now weep in silence, worried about a life filled with coercion. These girls, who until yesterday were top students, hardworking university attendees, or hopeful young women, are now imprisoned within the four walls of their homes, and from within this domestic confinement, they have fallen into marriages that were never their own choice. Ferishta (pseudonym), a 17-year-old girl from Herat province, has not only been confined to her home following the ban on girls attending school, but has also fallen victim to forced marriage. Speaking to Zan News, she says: “Since the school was closed, everything has changed. At first, it was just the sadness of not studying, but after a few months, my family said there was no reason to stay at home anymore and that I had to get married. I did not want to, but nobody asked me. They forced me to marry a man who is 45 years old. I really cannot live with this person, but what is the use; three years have passed since my marriage and the start of my misery.” Like Ferishta, dozens of other girls in Ghor, Badghis, Farah, and other provinces of the country have similar stories. They are victims of family pressure, deprivation of education, and social conditions in which, from the Taliban’s perspective, being a woman or a girl is equal to silence, servitude, and obedience to men. From Taliban Pressure to Social and Family Pressures A traditional society that has now become more conservative than ever under the shadow of the Taliban has stripped girls of the opportunity to make decisions for themselves. Families that once had big dreams for their daughters now only think of a “secure future” in the form of their marriage. Zohra, a resident of Badghis province and mother of four daughters, told Zan News: “Since the schools closed, my daughters have stayed at home without work. When a girl stays at home and has nothing to do, people’s eyes and everyone’s tongue start to open to talk behind a young girl’s back. Everyone says so-and-so’s daughter has grown up, she must get married. We too were forced to marry off two of our daughters; although they were not happy, their father gave them away by force. Their father said people’s words bring disgrace.” For girls deprived of school and education, forced marriage is not the end of their deprivation; it is the beginning of a new cycle of violence. Many of them go to homes where they are denied the right to speak, make decisions, or even take part in the affairs of life. Most of these girls are minors whom the Taliban’s misogynistic and gender-segregated policy has forced into motherhood while they themselves are still children. Nazila, a 16-year-old girl from Ghor province, who says she was forced by her family to marry a Herati merchant, speaks in a tearful voice about the hardships of her life: “I never wanted to get married. By God, it is a shame, all my peers in our village laugh at me for becoming a mother. I now have a six-month-old daughter, but I pray her father will not sell her for the sake of his name and honor like he did to me. I had studied until grade six when the Taliban came, then my father decided to give me to a Herati merchant for 4 million Afghanis.” Nazila, as she wiped her tears with the corner of her yellow scarf, said: “My father sold me; now his honor is intact and he is rich, but he does not know that he has thrown his daughter, who is still a child, into hell. He has no idea of the pain I endure.” Silent Cries Behind the Walls Uzra, a 17-year-old girl from Farah province, shared a horrifying account in a voice message to a Zan News reporter: “I only wanted to study and become a teacher. Now I cry at night because I am not even allowed to look at my books. My husband says, what does a woman have to do with books? I did not want to get married, but my husband, who is a Talib, had told my father that either he would kill him or my father would give me to him. One night, a mullah and two Taliban came to our house and married me to the Talib. That same night, he slept with me. What is our crime? Just because we are girls?” Nazila, Uzra, Zohra, and Ferishta are not the only victims of the Taliban’s restrictions; in the four years of this group’s rule, millions of women and girls have been deprived of their basic rights and have suffered from mental illnesses, forced marriages, imprisonment by the Taliban, and even suicide. In a country where the Taliban have restricted even a woman’s right to walk alone in the street, girlish dreams are being extinguished one by one.

Photo: Sharifa Khan | UNICEF The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), on the occasion of International Youth Day, has announced that it is running sewing and carpet weaving training courses for 200 girls deprived of education in Herat province. On Tuesday (August 12), UNICEF said in a report that this program, organized in cooperation with the government of Japan, will last for six months, and the participating girls are between 15 and 25 years old. The organization added that after the Taliban’s ban on education, more than one million girls across Afghanistan have been deprived of going to school. International Youth Day is held every year on August 12, a day which this year arrives in Afghanistan as millions of young people, especially girls, face challenges such as deprivation of education, unemployment, and severe social restrictions.

Photo: Ali Khara, Reuters via france24 The United Nations has warned that four years after the Taliban’s return to power, there is a risk that the complete removal of women from public life could become an accepted reality in Afghanistan. In a report released by the organization, it is stated that the Taliban are now closer than ever to achieving their goal of creating a “without women society.” According to the report, since 2021, around 100 restrictive decrees against women and girls have been issued, none of which have been repealed. Susan Ferguson, representative of the UN Women’s office in Afghanistan, warned, “If we allow Afghan women and girls to be silenced, we are sending the message that the rights of women and girls anywhere in the world can be disregarded; and this will set a very dangerous precedent.” The UN Women’s office also said that continued restrictions on access to health services could increase the maternal mortality rate by up to 50 percent by 2026. Cases of child marriage and violence against women are also on the rise. It is worth noting that the Taliban, upon taking control of Afghanistan, have widely violated the fundamental rights of the country’s women and girls. Currently, women and girls in Afghanistan are deprived of the right to education and work. Despite repeated global calls to restore women’s rights, these restrictions continue to be imposed by the Taliban.