On Sunday, the United Nations condemned new laws enacted by Afghanistanâs Ministry of Vice and Virtue that prohibit the display of womenâs faces and bodies in public and said that âeven the sound of a female voiceâ outside the home constitutes âa morâŠ
The Taliban are getting really busy spouting loads of dangerous nonsense while abandoning their promise to reopen girls schools. They are now even challenging people to prove women's education is compatible with Islam.
They seem to have forgotten that the world's oldest university was founded by a Muslim woman in the 9th century.
Did you know the first university in the world was founded by a Muslim woman? Of course you didnât. In recent years, on account of sustained negative stereotyping across the world media, the phrase...
Ayah Aboelela âSeeking knowledge is an obligation upon every Muslimâ. This narration from the Prophet ï·ș is one of dozens of hadiths that emphasize the value of education in Islam. It is no woâŠ
"Addressing the ongoing ban on women's education in Afghanistan, the Taliban stated that those lacking religious authority should refrain from positioning themselves as scholars on the matter. "We have demonstrated that our decrees are in full accordance with Islam and Sharia law," the minister declared. He further emphasised that the Taliban's policies on women's education are not in conflict with "Islamic laws and Afghan traditions."
The Taliban's Minister of Higher Education, Neda Mohammad Nadeem, has implied that questions regarding women's education, like the education itself, are "suspended until further notice."
"Courageous Afghan girls are stepping up to demand an end to the Talibanâs gender discrimination.
Underground schools, local home schooling, and remote learning are all playing their part in ensuring schooling can continue. In 2023, Education Cannot Waitâs investments in Afghanistan reached nearly 200,000 girls and boys through community-based education programmes."
"It is mandatory for a woman to veil her body at all times in public and that a face covering is essential to avoid temptation and tempting others. Women should veil themselves in front of all male strangers to avoid being corrupted. A womanâs voice is deemed intimate and so should not be heard singing, reciting, or reading aloud in public.
It is forbidden for women to look at men they are not related to by blood or marriage and vice versa."
The Taliban say it's mandatory for Afghan women to conceal their voices and bare faces in public. That's according to newly published laws covering aspects of everyday life from the Ministry of Vice and Virtue.
This seems a good time to make something crystal clear.
If I am criticising the Taliban, I am criticising the Taliban.
This has nothing to do with Islam.
There's a zero tolerance policy on Islamophobia here. Don't even think about replying with your tropes and thinly veiled comments. I can spot you all a mile off.
"The Taliban uses Islam as a justification for their treatment of women."
âAll countries within the Organization of Islamic Cooperation are unanimous that this has nothing to with Islam, that this is alien to the concept of Islam, and the first word of the Holy Qurâan is âRead'.
We continue to press the interim government in Afghanistan to live up to their promises and grant women their right to education."
There is only one thing that is very simple in Afghanistan. The Taliban's ideology is so far removed from Islam that it's not Islam they are preaching. It's something else entirely.
The Taliban's treatment of women and girls has even united all 57 varieties of the Muslim countries that make up the Organization of Islamic Cooperation . They say it very clearly. It goes against all Islamic values.
Ismail Mashal's treatment by the Taliban for standing up for women's rights in Afghanistan is an extreme but also fairly typical example of the men who have tried to stand up for women against the Taliban.
I could show you more cases like Ismail Mashal's, but they always go the same way. Men who stand up for women's rights in Afghanistan are dealt with even more harshly than the women as they are seen as even more of a threat to the Taliban's rule.
Ismail Mashal has been in no condition to talk publically ever since his release from jail in Afghanistan in March 2023.
There were reports that he was hospitalised with physical and mental health problems about a month after he left prison. I'm still searching for any updates.
Ismail Mashal, a university professor, has been hospitalised after being released from a Taliban prison.
Relatives of Mashal told Afghanistan International that he is currently "vomiting blood and has mental health issuesâ.
While handing out his own collection of books to women on the streets of Kabul, Ismail Mashal was arrested, beaten and imprisoned by the Taliban in January 2023.
He left prison in March 2023. His colleague Farhad Farzli said:
"Ismail is fine and in good health. However, he is not in a condition to talk at the moment."
Ismail Mashalm, the man who tore up his academic records on television to protest the ban on the education of women and girls, was detained for "provocative actions."
No Afghan man fought harder for Afghan women's rights than Ismail Mashal.
He went live on Afghan television and ripped up all his educational diplomas, saying they were worthless in Afghanistan if women couldn't get them too.
He closed his university, saying if women can't receive an education, nobody can.
He took to the streets of Kabul with a cart full of his own book collection, handing them out to every woman and girl he could find.
It may well come as a surprise to some of you to see an Afghan man celebrating strong women on International Women's Day in 2018.
It will be much less of a surprise to those of you who have seen my long thread on Afghan photographer Shah Marai, Democracy and Women's Rights in Afghanistan.
This is a thread about photographer Shah Marai, democracy and women's rights in Afghanistan.
As the Taliban are trying to make everybody forget democracy and women's rights ever existed in Afghanistan, I will take every opportunity to remind everybody that democracy and women's rights in Afghanistan have a long history, and also share Shah Marai's photos. So it will be a long thread.
If you're short on time, after the next post you can hit the eject button before the slideshow begins, ok?
I'll put this diplomatically. Afghan men are like all men. Fucking awful.
The worst are no worse than the worst ones you find in every country in the world. Take a good look around you.
There are also good men in Afghanistan. Take one of Afghan photographer Shah Marai's last posts on Twitter. In 2018, between the reports of the ever increasing suicide bombs in Kabul that would soon claim his life, he wrote simply:
Happy International Women's Day to all Strong Women.
This thread is about Afghan women and girls rights, but where are the men in all this?
I know at least some of you are thinking all the men in Afghanistan are loving Taliban rule, cheering on the patriarchy as they delight in watching women go right back to medieval times.
You're wrong. Not completely wrong, but wrong. I'll keep saying it. If you want simple answers about Afghanistan, you won't find them here.
"U.N. Special Rapporteur Richard Bennett has been banned from coming to Afghanistan. He was assigned to spread propaganda against Afghanistan. He is not someone we believe in."
Zabihullah Mujahid, the Taliban spokesperson, criticised Richard Bennett, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights for Afghanistan, for his reports on severe human rights violations in the country.
"In Afghanistan, with each generation, there will be fewer women with educational backgrounds enabling them to take up roles outside the home. Afghanistan is losing more than its future health-care workers, with the concomitant risks to women and girls. The Talibanâs institutionalized gender oppression is depriving Afghanistan of its future women engineers, journalists, lawyers, biologists, politicians and poets.â
"The Taliban have already murdered lawyers, activists, students, police and other women, as well as subjecting them to torture and abuse. Concerns that they will resume public stonings persist. But there are many other ways to take womenâs lives.
Snatch away all hope and some will conclude that there is no way to go on."
This is Scottish Refugee Council head Sabir Zazai, who came to the country as a refugee from Afghanistan in 1999.
He's standing in sunny Edinburgh, with some of the 20 refugee women from Afghanistan who have just arrived on visas to study medicine at Scottish universities.
"I believe this is a continuation of the Taliban's intimidation and oppression of women - from the way we're dressed to how we appear in public, how we talk, how we even laugh. It says that women shouldn't laugh very loud, and the laugh of women should not be heard by a man, which is extremely horrifying to actually see that this is actually codified in law."
Azadah Raz Mohammad, Afghan Legal Advisor, Atlantic Council.
"Even the sun came out today to greet the 20 female medical students that arrived in Scotland from Afghanistan, thanks to the efforts of Linda Norgrove Foundation and Scottish universities.
Through their forthcoming achievements, the girls will prove the Taliban ban on education very wrong."
I know. I thought that last post could have gone better too.
Who was the 'first lady' of Afghanistan in 1919?
That's easy, that was Queen Soraya. She was everywhere. She was belatedly on the cover of Time magazine woman of the year 1927.
Who is the 'first lady' of Afghanistan in 2024?
Hmm, well it's thought Taliban leader Hibatullah Akhundzada has two wives but nobody's really sure. They haven't made any public announcements and as for names and photos, forget it.
In terms of women's rights, The Taliban are the polar opposite to the modernising political forces that led Afghanistan to independence in 1919.
We know the Taliban leaders have wives, but do we see them ? Do we know their names?
Now let's look at Queen Soraya of Afghanistan 1919-1929. She was a pioneer. She brought about change. She wrote the book* on gender equality in Afghanistan.
(*technically a monthly magazine, but you get the idea.)
The Taliban should celebrate Afghanistan Independence Day. The end of British colonial rule in 1919 is important.
It led to-
*End of mandatory hijab *Full female participation in society *Votes for women *Female MPs *Full education for girls. *University education for women. *Equal employment for women.
None of these rights for women are now available under Taliban rule in Afghanistan in 2024.
Highlighting the history of women's rights in Afghanistan, the impact of the Taliban's takeover in the country & what the current situation looks like, including links to our recent in-depth reports.
If you managed to read the whole of the article on the last post of this thread, you did well. I warned you, reading about LGBT rights is a whole other level of harrowing.
Let's move on to what is considered, almost, as light relief in Afghanistan. This week the Taliban are celebrating the 105th anniversary of Afghan Independence.
Are they having a laugh? Are they sure they really want us to remember events in 1919?
Top officials of the Taliban-led government in Afghanistan marked 105 years of of the country's independence on August 18 by demanding mutual respect from the international community.
This thread is focused on Afghan women and girl's rights, but I haven't forgotten about LGBT rights in Afghanistan (Spoiler: There are none)
I won't be mentioning it too much here, partly because it's not my area of expertise, but mostly because this thread is heavy going enough. LGBT rights in Afghanistan is a whole other level of harrowing. Someone please post about it.
In the last two years, human rights organizations have repeatedly accused the Taliban of engaging in gender-based apartheid against girls and women in Afghanistan.
The history and politics of Afghanistan is complicated and often misunderstood. It's hard to agree upon.
This thread is concentrating on the current dire and overlooked state of women's basic human rights. And I'm sure we can all agree on that.
(you can ignore this post unless you get it sent as a reply from me. It doesn't mean I agree or disagree. It means we're wandering off topic. That's All.)
You might be surprised to know that women in Afghanistan first won the right to vote in 1919, a year after the U.K. and a year before the U.S.
Believe me when I say the women's rights movement in Afghanistan is not a new thing. They have been standing up for their rights in Afghanistan for decades, centuries even. It's a struggle that already existed, well before the Taliban or the U.S. and the U.K. got involved.
The LSE Public Policy Review is an open-access, refereed journal which is published quarterly. Each issue is thematic and concentrates on a key topic at the heart of current debates in public policy.
People say that the U.S. and U.K. intervention in Afghanistan was a colonialist attempt to impose western democracy, and the Taliban returned the country to it's natural state, tribal, warlike and backwards.
This misrepresents the wide range of views in Afghan society, ignores the history of struggle between modernizing and traditional Afghan politics, and Afghan women's decades long struggle for equal rights and representation.
Secret underground schools for girls where teachers and students risk beatings and lashings and imprisonment if they're caught, just so they can receive the basics of an education?
Is this from The Handmaids Tale?
No. This is the actual reality of life in Afghanistan in 2024.
Some of the schools are paid for by the charity Ideas Beyond Borders. Info and donation opportunity in the link below.
Defying the Taliban restrictions on women and girlâs education Help us fund underground schools in Afghanistan to ensure girls get the education they need. The Talibanâs seizure of poweâŠ
1.4 Million girls in Afghanistan don't receive a secondary education. If that sounds like a big number and is hard to visualize, let's put it another way.
ZERO AFGHAN GIRLS ARE IN SCHOOL AFTER THE AGE OF 11.
That's the Taliban way. They stay at home and do the housework, until they are married and then they stay at home and do the housework.
At least 1.4 million girls in Afghanistan have been denied access to secondary education since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, UNESCO, the United Nations' cultural agency, said on August 15.
"I took my burqa and had it cut and sewn into wings in order to show that transformation and change can be possible, even in the most oppressive situations."
Manizha Talash, Afghan, Olympic Refugee Team Breakdancer, (disqualified)
