Afghanistan on Thursday marked three years since the Taliban returned to power, leaving the country a repressive and dangerous place for women and girls, where some 500,000 girls are barred from secondary education and femicide is rampant.
The Taliban ruled Afghanistan for much of the 1990s, losing power after the US invasion in 2001 following the Sept. 11 al-Qaida attacks. After two decades of fighting, former President Donald Trump brokered a deal with the Taliban that saw US troops peacefully withdraw from Afghanistan by May 1, 2021 in exchange for the Taliban cutting ties with terrorist groups and promising not to attack US troops.
His successor, Joe Biden, reneged on the agreement, which led the Taliban to launch a series of conquest attacks that culminated in the fall of the capital, Kabul, on August 15, 2021.
The Taliban is now the absolute government of Afghanistan, but no country on Earth has formally recognized it. Taliban jihadists marked the anniversary of their victory on Tuesday with a massive parade at the former U.S. Bagram Air Base, showing off some of the millions of dollars worth of weapons that President Biden is surrendering to Afghanistan in 2021.
Since the Taliban returned to power, the quality of life has essentially collapsed for the average Afghan, especially girls and women. Three years ago, Taliban leaders claimed to lead an “inclusive” government, and that the regulations ordering women to stay at home were temporary and intended to protect women’s safety. But rather than lifting the ban, the Taliban have intensified their repression of women and girls, claiming that a woman’s “worth” is “decreased” if a man can see her face, and declaring a ban on girls’ education beyond primary school age.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) said in a report on Thursday marking the anniversary of the fall of Afghanistan that the Taliban estimated Banned 1.4 million girls are excluded from secondary education.
“As a result of bans imposed by the de facto regime, at least 1.4 million girls have been deliberately denied their right to secondary education since 2021,” UNESCO said. “In just three years, the de facto regime has all but erased two decades of steady progress in Afghanistan’s education, and the future of an entire generation is now at risk.”
The media also estimates that 80 percent of school-age Afghan girls are not receiving an education, with “increasing drop-out rates.”
UNESCO noted that the Taliban have also undermined boys’ education opportunities by banning women from teaching boys and severely limiting the availability of educators of both sexes, resulting in a decline of 1.1 million boys and 1.1 million girls out of school since the Taliban took power.
Despite the Taliban’s boasts that it has improved the “security” situation for Afghan people, human rights researchers have documented soaring rates of violence against women in Afghanistan outside of schools. study Information Resilience Center Afghan Witness The project identified 332 reported cases. Female murder Murders resulting from sexual assault, which the UN defines as “intentional killings with gender-related motives”, have occurred since August 15, 2021, but they warned the number was likely a significant undercount of the actual number of deaths.
“What we’ve collected is just the tip of the iceberg,” project director David Osborne told the British newspaper. Guardian. “[It is] It is becoming increasingly difficult for Afghan women to speak out and document gender-based violence and the impact of Taliban rule on women and girls.”
Afghan Witness documented 840 victims of gender-based violence between January 2022 and June 2024, more than half of whom alleged the Taliban regime was responsible for crimes such as “forced marriage, sexual slavery, assault and sexual violence, including rape,” as well as non-sexual violence.
In their propaganda campaign to portray “safety” as having returned to Afghanistan, the Taliban completely ignore the dire situation women face.
“Recent assessments show that security incidents have decreased by around 90 percent or more compared to the previous year and security has been established,” said interior ministry spokesman Abdul Mateen Kani. said This was reported by Afghan media outlet Tolo News.
Tolo News, one of Afghanistan’s largest news organizations, has largely avoided critical reporting on the Taliban since August 16, 2021, when Taliban terrorists stormed its offices and seized the weapons of all of its security guards.
The Taliban agreed to enter the TOLO News compound in Kabul, inspect the security guards’ weapons, take back the government-issued weapons and ensure security on the compound. #Afghanistan pic.twitter.com/LhuMI7Z90u
— TOLO News (@TOLO News) August 16, 2021
Top Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid insisted on Wednesday that “the entire country is safe and there are no unauthorized, armed or threatening individuals or groups, either inside or outside Afghanistan.”
Mujahid also made an official statement on social media on Wednesday on behalf of the Taliban “government”, celebrating the anniversary of the conquest and praising the Taliban’s determination. Sharia and Jihad.
“Two decades of infidel occupation and the martyrdom and sacrifices of our people against it have left great lessons for future generations that must never be forgotten,” the statement said. “We are committed to an Islamic system that has been achieved through the great efforts of the Afghan people and in whose shadow Allah and the ruling religion of Afghanistan are rooted.” Sharia [Islamic law] It has been implemented.”
