By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi January 21, 2022 The Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan had already left free speech and media freedoms out in the cold. A recent spate of mysterious attacks on activists and journalists has raised fears that the worst may be yet to come. The situation took an alarming turn last week with
Insider: An Afghan woman said a Taliban gunman struck her mom across the face after the group’s takeover, leaving a bruise. The two women were approached by the militants because they were outside without a male escort. Under the Taliban, women across Afghanistan are severely oppressed and deprived of opportunity. Click here to read more
Reuters: Hard-won gains in women’s rights over the last two decades have been quickly reversed, and reports from international rights experts and labour organisations this week painted a bleak picture for female employment and access to public space. Click here to read more (external link).
Tolo News: Heather Barr, associate women’s rights director at Human Rights Watch (HRW), in a special interview with TOLO news’ Hamid Bahram said the international community should “never recognize” the current Afghan government as long as it is imposing the “worst discrimination in the world” against women seeking an education. Click here to read more (external
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty January 17, 2022 Taliban leaders are attempting to institutionalize large-scale and systematic gender-based discrimination and violence against Afghan women and girls, a group of 36 UN human rights experts warned in a statement on January 17. The experts said an array of restrictive steps that have been introduced since the Taliban’s takeover of
The Indian Express: Nadia Nadim, a prolific Danish international with 98 caps under her belt, qualified as a doctor after 5 years of studying whilst playing football. Last season, she played a crucial role in Paris Saint-Germain lifting the Division 1 title for the first time in their history, scoring 18 goals in 27 games.
The Guardian (UK): Gul Bano* and Karima* are activists who ran provincial branches of the ministry of women’s affairs in two different parts of Afghanistan. Their former offices have been taken over by the Taliban’s feared enforcers, the ministry for the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice. They are now in hiding, afraid of
AP: Zabihullah Mujahid, who is also the Taliban’s deputy minister of culture and information, said their education departments are looking to open classrooms for all girls and women following the Afghan New Year, which starts on March 21. Afghanistan, like neighboring Iran, observers the Islamic solar Hijri Shamsi calendar. Click here to read more (external
8am: Before the rise of the Taliban, the Arus al-Balad volleyball team participated in various competitions, continuing its training regularly. Since the Taliban took control of Ghazni in early August, however, the team could not exercise. “We cannot exercise now,” ms. Sultani clarified. “There is no gymnasium in Ghazni that allows girls to play volleyball.
AP: In Afghanistan’s heavily patriarchal, male-dominated society, where women and girls are usually relegated to the home, bacha posh, Dari for “dressed as a boy,” is the one tradition allowing girls access to the freer male world. Click here to read more (external link).