Taliban Practice against Afghan Women, Employing Fresh Rules and Restrictions [part I]

Shabana’s favorite part of the day is when she attends her regular English classes. She finds a momentary escape from the loneliness that has consumed her life since the Taliban took over Afghanistan when she rides the bus in Kabul to the personal course with her friends, laughing and talking with them while learning new information for an hour every day.

In a different nation, Shabana would have been following her aim of earning an accounting degree after graduating from high school the next year. She and all teenage females in Afghanistan have been denied access to formal school for three years.

A new legislation states that woman shouldn’t go outdoors, or even their voice must not be audible, which has caused the little pleasures that were bringing some relief from the daily grind, frightening.

We’re afraid now that we’re outside. We feel afraid when we ride the bus. We are afraid to remove our masks. We even refrain from talking to each other for fear that we would be stopped and questioned by Taliban members, as the new legislation that was enforced by Haibatullah Akhundzada, the Taliban’s top leader.

It deals another blow to women whose liberties have already been gradually eroded by an unrelenting stream of regulations. Why even exist if we should be mute? We resemble moving corpses, Shabana remarks.

After finding about the new law, I made the decision to stop going to the course. Since I could end up speaking if I go out, and horrible things could then happen. Perhaps I won’t make it home safely. My mother, nevertheless, urged me to carry on after that.

In the period of three years since the Taliban took power, it has become evident that individuals begin to self-regulate out of fear, even in cases when edicts are not fully enforced.

Afghan Women’s Resistance

In places like Kabul, women are still sometimes seen on the streets, but according to a directive that was issued last year, almost all of them are now completely covered in loose black clothing or dark blue the headscarf, with the majority covering their faces so that only their eyes are visible.

They say as if they’re in a jail. Here, simply breathing has become challenging.

She also participated in small groups of women who demonstrated for their rights on the streets of Kabul and other places up until last year, whenever new limitations were revealed.

The Taliban’s soldiers repeatedly put an end to the protests until they ended completely. Nausheen spent last year in prison. She states that Taliban pulled her into a car and demanded to know why she was acting against them. They transported her to a scary, dark area and imprisoned her there while abusing her with foul language. They also gave her a beating, she adds, sobbing.

She continues, they ceased protesting because, upon being released from custody, we were no longer the same people as before. She wants to stop being made fun of for being a woman. It is preferable to pass away than to live this way.