Afghan women erased by the Taliban as the international community looks on

Pauline ROUQUETTE

31 August 2024 at 6:09 am·1-min read

The oppression of Afghan women continues unabated before the eyes of the world. The Taliban imposed severe new restrictions earlier this month, with women not only obliged to cover their faces but now forbidden from raising their voices, singing or reading aloud in public. Western countries – led by the US and EU – have condemned the new laws but also seem resigned to the Taliban regime, which offers some stability in the region.

Invisible, and now silent. Three years after the Taliban's return to power, Afghan women continue to see their few remaining rights dwindle away.

A Taliban ministry promulgated a new set of laws on August 21 that it said “will be of great help in the promotion of virtue and the prevention of vice”. The laws aim to control all aspects of the social and private life of Afghans, especially of Afghan women.

Among the rules in the 114-page text published by the ministry is the requirement for women to cover their bodies and faces completely if they leave the house as well as a ban on women making their voices heard in public.

The new laws are “attacking their very existence”, Chekeba Hachemi, president of the organisation Free Afghanistan, told FRANCE 24.

But there is only so much the international community can do to help Afghan women.

Short-lived optimism

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Short-lived optimism

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