the story So Far: The Taliban last week announced a new law on “the promotion of virtue and the prevention of vice,” which imposes its interpretation of Sharia, or Islamic law, on the people of Afghanistan. It not only Women are banned from showing any part of their body or face in publicBut it also stifles their voices. It also seeks to regulate many aspects of daily life, from music and sports to travel, dress and sexual behaviour.
What does the law say?
The 114-page document published in the official gazette states that women must cover their entire body and face in the presence of unrelated men as well as non-Muslim and “immoral” women “for fear of temptation”. A woman’s voice – singing, chanting or reading loudly – is considered Avra or intimate and must not be heard. It states, “Whenever an adult woman leaves the house when required, she has to cover her voice, face and body,” and adds that any violation will be punished. Unrelated men and women are not even allowed to see each other.
Men must grow beards, and may not wear neckties or have Western-style haircuts. All games and forms of entertainment, even traditional children’s games played with marbles or walnuts, are banned, as are gambling. Travel must be planned to avoid prayer times, and drivers are forbidden from transporting women who are not accompanied by a relevant male guardian.
The morality police, called muhtasib, have the power to impose discretionary punishments, including up to three days in prison. They can force people to respect Islamic symbols, and check phones and laptops to ensure they contain no images of living creatures. They can also ensure that women’s voices or music do not come from homes or gatherings.
Is this something new?
Many of these rules are already in place in Afghanistan, some announced by Taliban edicts over the past three years, or enforced more haphazardly by local enforcers. Observers fear that officially codifying these so-called “morality laws,” however, would lead to more draconian punishments and stronger support for the muhtasibs.
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A look at Afghanistan’s history reveals the extreme regressiveness of these laws. Women in Afghanistan were granted the right to vote in 1919, a year before women in the US were granted the right. The early 1920s saw a rush to modernise the country with changes in dress and education opportunities led by the royal family, which sparked a backlash from conservative forces. However, from the 1960s to the 1980s, women’s rights and participation in public life expanded, first among the urban upper classes, but to a lesser extent also spreading to rural areas. Women became ministers and judges, doctors and diplomats, singers and entertainers. The Taliban’s first term from 1996 to 2001 was a brutal shock, imposing Sharia law and taking women back to the medieval era.
“They were portrayed as Taliban 2.0, as more moderate, so we approached them,” Fawzia Koofi, a former female lawmaker from Afghanistan, said in an interview. CNN After the new laws were announced, some daughters of Taliban leaders had also received education abroad in the interim period, he said. But since they came back to power, they have been “constantly targeting women” with “draconian measures”, he said.
Nayanima Basu, an Indian journalist who covered the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, is the author of this book. The fall of Kabul: Message from the chaos He said people he spoke to in provinces outside the “bubble in Kabul” were clear there had been no change in the Taliban’s thought process. “There is a disparity between the Taliban leadership in Doha – which has assured the international community that special schools and universities for girls will reopen – and the stone age thinking of those actually in power in Afghanistan,” he said.
How are women in Afghanistan responding?
Some Afghan women have defied a ban on raising their voices in public, posting videos on social media showing them singing, even while dressed head-to-toe in black, with their faces covered. Others can be seen raising their fists. Some have even reportedly protested in the streets, which “indicates that a small number do not care about their lives and deaths because they have nothing left to lose,” Ms. Koofi said. CNN,
Others engage in subtler forms of resistance, but with long-term effects. Pashtana Dorani, now in exile, founded a nonprofit called LEARN to open underground schools for teenage girls in Afghanistan, which now has 661 students in five schools that run in secret, in shifts, changing locations when they become aware of Taliban surveillance. In a social media post a few days after the new law was announced, Ms. Dorani showed videos of girls in burqas learning science, math and languages. “They can close the doors, but they can’t take away our dreams,” she wrote. “No restrictions can stop us from moving toward a better future. This week, our girls kept moving forward. Education opens doors, even when they’re shut.”
What is the response of the international community?
Governments and celebrities condemned it. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock criticised the new laws as “almost 100 pages of misogyny”, while actress Angelina Jolie described the rule as “cowardly and repressive”.
The UN immediately condemned the new law, but said it would continue to “liaise” with the Taliban. UN Women said the new rules are “repressive”, while the Office of the UN Commissioner for Human Rights called for the “extremely intolerable” law to be repealed immediately. However, after the law was criticised by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, the Taliban reportedly said it would no longer cooperate with the mission. In response, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the UN supports the criticism but “will continue to liaise with all stakeholders in Afghanistan, including the Taliban”.
“I firmly believe that political pressure will force the Taliban to respond, but such political pressure has never been exerted,” Ms. Koofi said. CNNShe said the UN has agreed to the Taliban’s demand to exclude Afghan women from talks in Doha this summer. “So the Taliban think the world doesn’t really care about women’s rights,” she said, adding that there are differences between the global north and south and this has “emboldened the Taliban even more”. Some countries, including China, have accepted the credentials of the official Taliban ambassador. While India has not established official diplomatic relations, the hindu There have been reports on efforts by the Taliban to recruit people in India.
When asked about the new law, MEA officials issued a statement reiterating India’s position on the Taliban’s treatment of women in Afghanistan. “We have expressed concern over reports in this regard. India has consistently supported women’s education in Afghanistan. We have been emphasizing the importance of establishing an inclusive and representative government that ensures equal rights for women and girls to participate in all aspects of society, including access to higher education,” they said.