A newly released report by the United Nations revealed that more than 700 Afghan people have been killed and 1,400 wounded since the Taliban came to power.
Since the US-backed government in Afghanistan under the presidency of Ashraf Ghani collapsed in mid-August last year, the Taliban have ruled over the country with a totally different way of governance. The result, however, has not been very promising as during this nearly one-year time, thousands of Afghan people have either been killed, wounded, or displaced.
According to a report that was released this Wednesday by the United Nations, although the overall security in Afghanistan has increased compared to the previous government, hundreds of people have been killed in Afghanistan since the Taliban overran the country nearly a year ago. The report said that besides over 700 people who have been killed, another 1,400 Afghans have been wounded since mid-August 2021.
The report further noted that most of the casualties were linked to attacks by the ISIS group that has now a very considerable presence in Afghanistan. Since the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan, the ISIS and other affiliated groups have been conducting terrorist attacks in the country, mostly targeting civilians.
To read between the lines, the ISIS attacks usually target the mainly Shiite Muslim ethnic Hazara minorities in places where they go to school, worship and go about their daily lives. But it’s not just the ISIS that kills the Afghans. Many people whom the Taliban believes have had relations and worked under the previous Western-backed government have also been either killed or tortured by the group, according to several reports in this regard.
Women, the core victims of today’s Afghanistan
The UN report also expressed grave concerns regarding the poor situation of women and girls since the Taliban took over and criticized the Taliban for how Afghan females have been deprived of many of their basic human rights. “It is beyond time for all Afghans to be able to live in peace and rebuild their lives after 20 years of armed conflict. Our monitoring reveals that despite the improved security situation since 15 August, the people of Afghanistan, in particular women and girls, are deprived of the full enjoyment of their human rights,” acting Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan Markus Potzel said during a news conference in Kabul on Wednesday.
The report also added that the violations of women’s rights across Afghanistan has been one of the most notable aspects of the de facto administration to date. Even back in 1996 when the Taliban came to power in Afghanistan for the first time, they imposed overwhelming restrictions against Afghan women, preventing them from education, participation in public life, working outdoor, and also forcing them to wear the all-encompassing burqa.
After returning to power last year, the Taliban followed the same path and imposed even stricter limitations on women. The group forced them to cover their faces except for their eyes in public, including women presenters on TV, and banned girls from attending school past the sixth grade.
“The education and participation of women and girls in public life is fundamental to any modern society. The relegation of women and girls to the home denies Afghanistan the benefit of the significant contributions they have to offer. Education for all is not only a basic human right, it is the key to progress and development of a nation,” the UN envoy noted.
