Afghan women protest outside Women’s Ministry after it was brutally shut down by the Taliban

A group of activists demonstrated this Sunday in the capital of Afghanistan, Kabul, in front of the premises of the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, whose building was transferred to the Promotion and Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice portfolio after its closure by the Taliban.

The protesters have demanded respect for women’s rights, including the right to work and education, as well as the preservation of their achievements, according to the Tolo News television network.

The Taliban shut down the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in Afghanistan and replaced it with a ministry for the promotion and encouragement of virtue and the prevention of vice, according to the Afghan news agency Khaama Press.

This ministry of virtue and vice was already one of the strictest in Afghanistan dominated by the Taliban of the 1990s, in charge of issues such as clothing, physical appearance and behavior of citizens. The components of the so-called “religious police”, depending on this ministry, men were flogged in the streets for listening to music, shaving, not praying, and women not wearing a burqa or full veil, or going out without a male partner, father, husband or brother.

Many Kabul municipal officials have been tasked by the country’s new Taliban leadership with stay at home, according to what the acting mayor of the Afghan capital said on Sunday.

Only women who could not be replaced by men were allowed to go to workthe mayor, Hamdullah Namony, told reporters. This included women in the design and engineering departments, as well as public service workers.

Namony’s comments were another indication that the Taliban are enforcing their strict interpretation of Islam, which includes restrictions on women in public spaces, despite its initial promises of tolerance and inclusion. Under their regime in the 1990s, the Taliban barred women and girls from school and work.

A final decision has yet to be made on Kabul municipal workers, who will continue to receive their salaries for the time being, the mayor said.

Until the Taliban took control of the country last month, he noted, just under a third of the city’s roughly 3,000 employees were women, working in all departments.

“WE THINK THEY HAVE CHANGED”

The Ministry of Women’s Affairs was established in 2001 under the government of then Afghan President Hamid Karzai as part of international efforts to address women’s issues and had around 850 staff across the country.

Over the past two decades, the institution’s mission has been to develop policies, promote rights, eliminate violence and discrimination against women, as well as promote their active participation in life. social and political situation of Afghanistan.

“When the Taliban came to power we thought they had changed, but unfortunately we see no change in the views and actions of the Taliban,” said Dadras, a former ministry employee and women’s rights activist. .

“The Women’s Ministry was a voice for women in Afghanistan and around the world, but it has been abolished and turned into another body that has nothing to do with women’s issues and is a body that will punish the people “, she criticized. .

“WE LOST EVERYTHING”

“Where is the international community that has been talking about women’s rights for 20 years, today we are left behind and alone, no one is listening to us”said the activist through tears.

For Dadras, the arrival of the Taliban, coupled with the exclusion of women from government, and the loss of the ground gained over the past 20 years, leaves an uncertain path for the future of his daughters and the next generations of Afghan women.

“Why is the international community not supporting us? We women have lost everything, we have no one to support us, ”she lamented.

Despite everything, some activists believe that these actions will not be able to silence the demands of women.

“I don’t know for how long we will see the elimination of the identity and role of women. The Taliban must be convinced that they cannot eliminate and silence women by eliminating a ministry,” said activist Basira Taheri.

“I’m sure the women will try to find a way out of this country,” she said.

(with information from EP, EFE and AP)

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