Taliban bar ladies from working for home, international NGOs in Afghanistan

The Taliban authorities on Saturday ordered all international and home non-governmental teams in Afghanistan to droop using ladies, allegedly as a result of some feminine staff did not put on the Islamic headband accurately. In addition they individually banned ladies from attending spiritual lessons on the mosques within the nation’s capital, Kabul.

The bans are the newest restrictive transfer by Afghanistan’s new rulers towards ladies’s rights and freedoms, coming simply days after the Taliban banned feminine college students from attending universities throughout the nation.

Afghan ladies have since demonstrated in main cities towards the ban, a uncommon signal of home protest for the reason that Taliban seized energy final 12 months. The choice has additionally brought on worldwide outrage.

The NGO order got here in a letter from Economic system Minister Qari Din Mohammed Hanif, who stated that any group discovered not complying with the order can have their working licence revoked in Afghanistan. The ministry’s spokesperson, Abdul Rahman Habib, confirmed the letter’s content material to The Related Press.

The ministry stated it had obtained “severe complaints” about feminine workers working for NGOs not carrying the “appropriate” headband, or hijab. It was not instantly clear if the order applies to all ladies or solely Afghan ladies working on the NGOs.

‘Are we not human beings?’

Extra particulars weren’t instantly accessible amid considerations the newest Taliban measure may very well be a stepping stone to a blanket ban on Afghan ladies leaving the house.

“It is a heartbreaking announcement,” stated Maliha Niazai, a grasp coach at an NGO instructing younger individuals about points reminiscent of gender-based violence. “Are we not human beings? Why are they treating us with this cruelty?”

The 25-year-old, who works at Y-Peer Afghanistan and lives in Kabul, stated her job was vital as a result of she was serving her nation and he or she’s the one particular person supporting her household. “Will the officers assist us after this announcement? If not, then why are they snatching meals from our mouths?” she requested.

One other NGO employee, a 24-year-old from Jalalabad working for the Norwegian Refugee Council, stated it was “the worst second of my life.”

“The job provides me greater than a … dwelling; it’s a illustration of all of the efforts I’ve made,” she stated, declining to present her identify fearing for her personal security.

The United Nations condemned the NGO order and stated it’s going to search to satisfy with the Taliban management to get some readability.

“Taking away the free will of girls to decide on their very own destiny, disempowering and excluding them systematically from all points of public and political life takes the nation backward, jeopardizing efforts for any significant peace or stability within the nation,” a UN assertion stated.

In one other edict, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Hajj and Spiritual Affairs, Fazil Mohammad Hussaini, stated late Saturday that “grownup ladies” are barred from attending Islamic lessons in mosques in Kabul, though they may nonetheless go to standalone madrassas, or spiritual faculties.

He gave no additional particulars, and didn’t elaborate on the ages of those that can be affected by the ban or how it will be enforced. It was additionally not defined why the measure applies solely to Kabul mosques.

Protests towards college ban proceed

Earlier on Saturday, Taliban safety forces used a water cannon to disperse ladies protesting the ban on college schooling for ladies within the western metropolis of Herat, eyewitnesses stated.

In response to the witnesses, about two dozen ladies had been heading to the Herat provincial governor’s home on Saturday to protest the ban — many chanting: “Training is our proper” — after they had been pushed again by safety forces firing the water cannon.

Video shared with the AP exhibits the ladies screaming and hiding on a facet avenue to flee the water cannon. They then resume their protest, with chants of “Disgraceful!”

One of many protest organizers, Maryam, stated that between 100 and 150 ladies took half within the protest, transferring in small teams from completely different elements of the town towards a central assembly level. She didn’t give her final identify for concern of reprisals.

“There was safety on each avenue, each sq., armoured automobiles and armed males,” she stated.

“After we began our protest, in Tariqi Park, the Taliban took branches from the bushes and beat us. However we continued our protest. They elevated their safety presence. Round 11 a.m. they introduced out the water cannon.”

WATCH | Outrage after Afghan ladies banned from universities: 

Afghan ladies protest after Taliban bans them from universities

Afghan ladies are protesting towards the Taliban’s determination to ban them from the nation’s universities. Regardless of the rising world backlash over the regime’s assault on ladies’s rights, the Taliban is refusing to again down.

A spokesperson for the provincial governor, Hamidullah Mutawakil, claimed there have been solely 4 or 5 protesters.

“That they had no agenda, they only got here right here to make a movie,” he stated, with out mentioning the violence towards the ladies or using the water cannon.

Rollback of girls’s freedoms

There was widespread worldwide condemnation of the college ban, together with from Muslim-majority nations reminiscent of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, in addition to warnings from america and the G7 group of main industrial nations that the coverage can have penalties for the Taliban.

An official within the Taliban authorities, Minister of Larger Training Nida Mohammad Nadim, spoke concerning the ban for the primary time on Thursday in an interview with Afghan state tv.

He stated the ban was vital to stop the blending of genders in universities and since he believes some topics being taught violated the ideas of Islam. He additionally stated the ban can be in place till additional discover.

Regardless of initially promising a extra average rule respecting rights for ladies and minorities, the Taliban have extensively applied their interpretation of Islamic regulation, or Shariah, since they seized energy in August 2021.

They’ve banned ladies from center college and highschool — and now universities — and in addition barred ladies from most fields of employment. Ladies have additionally been ordered to put on head-to-toe clothes in public and have been banned from parks and gymnasiums.

Afghan society, whereas largely conventional, had more and more embraced the schooling of women and girls over the previous twenty years of a U.S.-backed authorities.

Within the southwestern Pakistani metropolis of Quetta, dozens of Afghan refugee college students protested on Saturday towards the ban on feminine greater schooling of their homeland and demanded the fast reopening of campuses for ladies.

One in all them, Bibi Haseena, learn a poem depicting the grim state of affairs for Afghan ladies searching for an schooling. She stated she was sad about graduating outdoors her nation when a whole lot of hundreds of her Afghan sisters had been being disadvantaged of an schooling.