Taliban Militants in Kabul (file photo)
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
September 12, 2022
A UN human rights expert says conditions in Afghanistan under Taliban rule indicate a “descent towards authoritarianism” and called for radical changes to stop the trend.
“The severe rollback of the rights of women and girls, reprisals targeting opponents and critics, and a clampdown on freedom of expression by the Taliban amount to a descent towards authoritarianism,” Richard Bennett, the UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Afghanistan, told a UN Human Rights Council meeting in Geneva on September 12.
The mandate to monitor human rights violations in Afghanistan was established by the council almost a year ago after the Taliban takeover last August and is now up for renewal.
A year after the Taliban took power in Afghanistan, teenage girls are still barred from school and women are required to cover themselves from head to toe in public, with only their eyes showing. Hard-liners appear to hold sway in the Taliban-led government, which imposed severe restrictions on access to education and jobs for girls and women, despite initial promises to the contrary.
On September 10, Taliban authorities shut down girls’ schools above the sixth grade in eastern Afghanistan’s Paktia Province, according to witnesses and social media posts. The schools had briefly opened after a recommendation by tribal elders and school principals.
Earlier this month, four girls schools above grade 6 in Gardez, the provincial capital, and one in the Samkani district began operating without formal permission from the Taliban Education Ministry.
On September 10, all five schools were once again closed by the Taliban, sparking protests.
A resident of Paktia Province, who declined to be identified for security reasons, told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi that the girls protested in Gardiz, the capital of Paktia Province, the same day the Taliban closed the schools.
Several videos of the demonstration circulated on social media. In one of them a student asks: “Why did you play with our feelings and why did you send us back to our homes disappointed?” She described herself and other girls as “oppressed people.”
Maulvi Monib, the head of education in Paktia Province, declined to answer Radio Azadi’s questions about the demonstration and the closing of the schools. He said that he was traveling and would provide information about it later.
The chief spokesman for the Taliban-led government, Zabihullah Mujahid, said in a press conference that authorities are investigating the issue of who ordered the opening of schools in Paktia Province.
With reporting by RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
Copyright (c) 2022. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave NW, Ste 400, Washington DC 20036.
Related
ANI: Almost all major online shopping services in Afghanistan have shut down, with the two major online shopping services recently announcing to shut down their services due to the financial crisis in the country. Online shopping services in Afghanistan had facilitated and improved communications between customers and shopkeepers but this come as some other major online businesses including an online Taxi service called ‘Bubar’, Finest superstores online shopping portal and Hindukosh online shopping website were closed months after the collapse of the Afghanistan republic administration. 
8am: The Taliban rebels have severely beaten a doctor who is an “ultrasound specialist” for examining a woman in Logar province and taken him to an unknown location, local sources reported. The incident took place in the city of Pol-e Alam, the capital of Logar province, on Saturday night this week. 
Ariana: The Turkish Immigration Department said Monday in a statement published on Monday that from September 2 to 8 this month, three thousand illegal refugees have been returned to their countries, of which more than 1,000 are Afghan refugees. “1,492 of these asylum seekers are citizens of Afghanistan. Also, 448 people are citizens of Pakistan and another 198,000 people are citizens of other countries; the number of illegal asylum seekers who have been deported from Turkey since the beginning of this year has reached 78,716,” the statement said. “Since this year, we have prevented 209,318 illegal immigrants from entering Turkey.” 
Tolo News: The number of patients suffering from cancer has increased across the country, the Ministry of Public Health said, adding that more than 10,000 patients have been referred to cancer centers over the past five months. The rise of cancer cases comes as Afghanistan is facing a shortage of medical equipment in a weakened health sector that plunged into crisis due to the dire economic situation in the country. The doctors called air pollution the main reason for the increase in cancer in the country. 
8am: Sources in conversation with Hasht-e Subh say that this incident happened around 3:00 pm on Sunday, September 11, in the Pojawa area of Dara district in Panjshir province. According to the sources, two Taliban suicide bombers were planning to detonate among the members of the National Resistance Front under the pretext of surrendering.