Detained Women Activists In Afghanistan Apparently Forced To Confess Before Release

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By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
Golnaz Esfandiari
February 23, 2022

For months, Afghan women have challenged the Taliban by demonstrating for their rights.

The Taliban has cracked down on the protests through harassment, force, and even the abduction of activists, according to rights groups.

Now the Taliban authorities appear to be using a new tactic to intimidate women’s rights advocates: airing so-called confessions in which women say activists based outside the country had told them to protest.

On February 21, the Taliban Interior Ministry released a video of several women who said they had been encouraged by foreign-based activists to take to the streets by offering them the chance to relocate or send their children to study abroad. They also said that unlike what they expected from the Taliban, they were not treated harshly by the militants.

The women are reportedly among 29 women and their families who disappeared from a safe house in Kabul earlier this month. Rina Amiri, U.S. Special Envoy for Afghan women, had said on Twitter at the time that the women were among 40 people seized in the Afghan capital. She later deleted her tweet without providing an explanation.

The video has led to anger and accusations that the Taliban extracted the so-called confessions under duress. The tactic is widely used by authoritarian regimes, including neighboring Iran’s, to discredit activists and critics.

Samira Hamidi, deputy regional director at Amnesty International, said the Taliban is attempting to silence protesters and those who have challenged the extremist group’s human rights record.

“If you pay attention to the video, the mental state of the protesting women [shows] that they’re under pressure,” Hamidi told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi.

Hamidi also said on Twitter that it wasn’t clear what kind of pressure the women may have faced to confess that they were protesting in an effort to help them flee the country.

“[The] Taliban tactic is dirty [and] dangerous. It gives a strong message that by reprisal [and] force they can do anything,” Hamidi said.

Heather Barr, associate women’s rights director at Human Rights Watch, highlighted a big question on Twitter, asking: “How were these women treated while they were abducted and held by the Taliban?”

“When you detain people without charge, lie and say you haven’t detained them, and deny them access to lawyers, family, and advocates, no one is surprised when you cap those abuses off with a choreographed confession,” Barr added.

For her part, Fawzia Koofi, a lawmaker and peace negotiator for the former government, condemned the release of the video as “a crime.”

“It is a crime to make a forced confession [and] publish the picture of women in a way that harms their character and dignity,” Koofi said on Twitter.

“You have taken the right to life away from the women of my country and you expect no one to protest? You are afraid of protesting women and intend to discredit them by any means possible, this [shows] the strength of women,” she added.

In the controversial video, a spokesman for the Taliban Interior Ministry claimed the women regretted their actions.

“The women, who had been recently encouraged by some intelligence circles to demonstrate against the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan and chanted slogans against the Islamic regime, were recently detained by security forces in a house,” said the spokesman, Aqel Azam. “They have confessed to the involvement of foreign intelligence circles, they have expressed regret over their actions, and now their lives have been secured by the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan.”

Since returning to power in Afghanistan last August, the Taliban has reimposed many of the oppressive policies it instituted against women during the group’s first stint in power, including barring girls from secondary schools and preventing many women from returning to their jobs.

In recent weeks, a number of women activists have vanished while the Taliban has denied any role in their disappearance amid heightened fears about their safety.

“I am increasingly concerned about the wellbeing of missing women activists in Afghanistan. Several have ‘disappeared’, some not heard from in weeks,” UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Twitter on February 10. “I strongly urge the Taliban to ensure their safety so that they can return home.”

Several of the women have reportedly been released but their whereabouts remain unknown.

The Taliban, infamous for its brutal reign in Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001 during which it barred women from public life, initially vowed it would protect women’s rights within the boundaries of its fundamentalist interpretation of Islamic Shari’a law.

The group, however, which formed an all-male government after taking power in August, has subsequently crushed protests and resistance to the return of such restrictive measures, including the mandatory wearing of the hijab and orders for women to be accompanied by a male guardian in public.

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.

Measles Outbreak in Afghanistan – 80 People Infected in Parwan

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8am: Following the increase in measles disease in Afghanistan, the number of infected in Parwan province has also increased unprecedentedly. Health officials in Parwan province expressed concerns about the rapid spread of the measles virus. According to them, in the last two weeks alone, 80 cases of the disease have been registered in Parwan province. Click here to read more (external link).

More than 90% of Badghis farmers affected by drought

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Ariana: Badghis provincial officials said that more than 90 percent of farmers in the province have been badly affected by droughts but recent rain and snowfalls have been a welcome development for them. “Badghis relies on agriculture. People have suffered losses because of the [droughts affecting] agriculture. Fifty percent of the people have left the districts, and gone to other cities or other provinces,” said Saleh Pordal, head of Qadis district. Click here to read more (external link).

Shaheen Appointed Head of Doha Office

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Taliban Sohail Shaheen

Tolo News: Shaheen Appointed Head of Doha Office Suhail Shaheen, the Islamic Emirate’s designated permanent representative to the UN, has been appointed head of the Islamic Emirate’s political office in Doha. A source from the Islamic Emirate told TOLO news that Shaheen will simultaneously hold the post of the Kabul-designated permanent representative to the UN. Click here to read more (external link).

Indian Wheat Heads To Afghanistan After Transit Deal With Pakistan

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Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty
February 23, 2022

India has sent tons of wheat to help relieve food shortages in Afghanistan after it reached a deal with bitter rival Pakistan to allow shipments across their common border.

India’s Foreign Ministry said on February 23 that about 50 trucks packed with the first 2,500 tons of wheat donated by India have begun crossing into Pakistan.

Authorities said they expect to eventually send about 50,000 tons of wheat.

A ceremony was held in Amritsar near the border with Pakistan marking the passage of the first vehicles.

“I thank the Indian government for the generosity displayed at a time when more than 20 million Afghans are facing crisis or the worse levels of food insecurity in more than 3 decades,” Farid Mamundzay, Afghanistan’s ambassador to India for the former government, said on Twitter.

Western nations slashed aid to Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover of the country last summer.

According to the United Nations, Afghanistan is facing a “devastating” humanitarian crisis with a majority of the 28 million population in need of assistance.

In a rare move last week, Pakistani authorities said the country would allow New Delhi to deliver wheat to Afghanistan through its heavily militarized border with India.

Pakistan has allowed trucks from Afghanistan to collect wheat from India by way of the frontier crossing at Attari-Wagah.

The vehicles will proceed to the Afghan city of Jalalabad through Pakistan’s Torkham border, officials said.

India has said it will provide assistance to the Afghan people — but not to the Taliban government — through aid agencies and other organizations.

Based on reporting by RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi, AP, and AFP

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.

Afghan Beauty Parlors Take A Cut After Taliban Takeover

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By RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi
Abubakar Siddique
February 22, 2022

Three years ago, Nida, a young Afghan entrepreneur, established a modern beauty parlor in Shahr-e Nau, an upscale neighborhood in Kabul.

Business steadily grew as she attracted a loyal clientele for beauty and hair treatments in the capital. And as profits rose, the salon expanded, eventually employing half a dozen beauticians and hair stylists.

Nida recalls coming to work with enthusiasm and taking pride in feeling she was providing a welcomed service for Afghan women.

But she closed her salon shortly after the Taliban swiftly seized Kabul in August, well aware that businesses like hers were being defaced with spray paint to cover posters of women models and brides used to attract customers. Some salon owners removed the pictures themselves or painted them over to avoid trouble with the new authorities.

After repeated closures, Nida recently obtained a trade license from the Taliban. But her clientele and peace of mind have disappeared.

“We women are terrified of the Taliban and worried about our future,” she told RFE/RL’s Radio Azadi. “Now, we often wait for just one customer to show up during an entire day.”

Losing An ‘Oasis’

In Kabul, beauty salon owners estimate that most shops have lost more than 90 percent of their business. High-end shops that used to rake in thousands of dollars a month now must live on a few hundred. Most have massively slashed prices for their services, yet fewer customers are showing up.

Nida describes her salon as an oasis where the staff often celebrated with those preparing for occasions such as weddings or engagements. Now, she says, “we are struggling to just put food on the table.”

Fatima, a pseudonym given by a beauty parlor owner in the western city of Herat, agrees. Fatima closed her shop for a week after the Taliban takeover on August 15. But the thought of her family going hungry forced her to overcome her fear of the militants and she opened up shop again.

“I want the Taliban to let women work in all sectors and refrain from forcing them to sit at home,” she told Radio Azadi. “We do not expect anything more.”

Women have borne the brunt of the Taliban’s restrictions. After seizing power, the militants restricted women’s access to education and work and their general presence and role in society. Six months into Taliban rule, teenage girls have yet to return to school.

Women everywhere are either required or encouraged to wear the Islamic hijab. Female students returning to university are made to attend gender-segregated classes. At the same time, many women working for government departments have either been laid off or are receiving little pay. A male guardian must accompany women whenever they leave their homes. And those who demonstrate for greater rights have been arrested and, in some cases, disappeared.

Beauty parlors are a rare venue where women can socialize outside their homes. But Fatima says the Taliban takeover has wrecked her business. She says many of her clients fled Taliban rule and those remaining have lost jobs and livelihoods. Some women are so terrified of the Taliban that they do not want to risk going to the salon.

Fleeing Clients

An estimated 1.5 million Afghans have left their country since the Taliban seized power. A large majority of them were government workers and military officers who formed the backbone of the fallen pro-Western Afghan republic, and their departures have eroded the middle class. Many professionals, entrepreneurs, and those working for aid agencies also left in the chaotic weeks leading up to the final withdrawal of U.S. and Western forces on August 31.

Maryam, a young woman in Kabul, says fewer women she knows can now afford to visit salons. “The economic difficulties have a role in this, but people are mostly afraid [of the Taliban],” she said.

Radio Azadi attempted to reach the Taliban for comment. But Zabihullah Mujahid, the top Taliban spokesman, and his deputies Bilal Karimi and Ahmadullah Wasiq did not respond to repeated requests.

While the Taliban has not said anything about closing or regulating beauty salons, the Taliban’s religious police have issued orders banning men from shaving their beards and trimming their hair in some parts of Afghanistan. Taliban officials say the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice now only advises Afghans on how best to follow Islamic injunctions, but does not enforce them as it did during the Taliban’s first stint in power from 1996 to 2001.

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.

To Preserve Its Own Stability, Pakistan Must Stabilize Afghanistan First

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Taliban leader Mullah Baradar with Pakistan’s ISI Chief Faiz Hameed

NYT: The euphoria felt by many in Pakistan over a Taliban victory in Kabul six months ago is subsiding. The government had hoped that a friendly — some would say proxy — regime in Kabul would ease its concerns about the Pakistani Taliban. But instead, there has been a spike in terror attacks in recent months, which Pakistani officials say were planned by militants hiding inside Afghan territories. Click here to read more (external link).