The Supreme Leader of the Taliban has vowed to start stoning women to death in public as he announced the fight against Western democracy will continue, further marking the Taliban’s quick return to harsh punishments in public after an American-led withdrawal of Afghanistan in 2021 and the Taliban's subsequent return to power following the departure.
For the first time since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan following the withdrawal of US-led coalition forces in 2021, the Islamic fundamentalist group officially confirmed that they have arrested women in the country’s capital, Kabul, for wearing “bad hijab.”
Afghanistan has seen a rising surge of women taking their own lives or trying to do so since the Taliban took over the country in 2021 and made attempts to reduce women’s role in public life, showing desperation among Afghan women to escape a regime that constantly deprives them of rights and freedoms.
A spokesperson for a key ministry in Afghanistan’s Taliban government declared on August 17th that Afghan women would lose their value if men could see their faces uncovered in public. He also claimed that many religious scholars agree that women should cover their faces when outside their homes.
Since the Taliban seized power as a US-led coalition of foreign military forces left Afghanistan in August 2021, they imposed wide-sweeping restrictions against women based on their strict interpretation of Islam and Sharia law.
The transition from insurgency to governance was never easy for the Taliban when it seized power in Afghanistan after a coalition of foreign forces led by the United States fled in 2021.
Some of the Taliban’s fighters were so used to jihad and fighting they reportedly felt bored when they had to switch their weapons to paperwork. In an Afghan valley that raised some of the organization’s best and most ardent fighters, some regret that they haven’t fulfilled their duties as suicide bombers for the Taliban.
On June 4th, a local education official in Afghanistan reported that dozens of schoolgirls were victims of two separate attacks in their primary schools in the northern part of the country. The female students were sent to hospitals after being poisoned.
Official: Almost 80 Schoolgirls Poisoned, Hospitalized in Northern Afghanistanhttps://t.co/zheiSy6xRg
Since taking over Afghanistan in August 2021, the Taliban has struggled to gain recognition from the international community despite aggressively campaigning for it. But this situation may soon change as a top United Nations official discussed the possibility of recognizing the country’s Taliban authorities.
Amina Mohammed, the United Nations deputy secretary-general, said on April 17th that the organization would set up a meeting to talk about granting international recognition to the Taliban, emphasizing the importance of engaging with Afghanistan’s fundamentalist authorities.
The Taliban has recently proposed a strict Sharia-compliant dress code for school students, prescribing long, traditional clothing in different colors that covers the body for male and female students.
The proposed policy comes when the Taliban continues to impose harsh restrictions despite initial promises of a softer rule when the group seized power in August 2021 after the withdrawal of the US-led forces in Afghanistan.
