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KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – The new Afghan Taliban leadership has set up a ministry for the “propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice” in the building that once housed the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, escorting Bank employees on Saturday world as part of the forced movement.
It’s the latest disturbing sign that the Taliban is restricting women’s rights as they take over government, just a month after invading the capital Kabul. During their first period of rule in the 1990s, the Taliban denied girls and women the right to education and excluded them from public life.
Meanwhile, three explosions targeted Taliban vehicles on Saturday in the eastern provincial capital of Jalalabad, killing three and injuring 20, witnesses said. There has been no immediate claim of responsibility, but the militants of the Islamic State, headquartered in the region, are enemies of the Taliban.
The Taliban face major economic and security challenges as they attempt to rule, and a growing challenge from ISIS insurgents would further strain their resources.
In Kabul, a new sign was installed outside the Ministry of Women’s Affairs announcing that it was now the “Ministry of Preaching and Guidance and the Spreading of Virtue and Prevention of vice ”.
Staff from the World Bank’s $ 100 million women’s economic empowerment and rural development program, which was managed by the Ministry of Women’s Affairs, were escorted out of the scene on Saturday, said Sharif Akhtar, a member of the program, who was among those fired.
Mabouba Suraj, who heads the Afghan Women’s Network, said she was stunned by the wave of orders issued by the Taliban-led government restricting women and girls.
Meanwhile, the Taliban-led education ministry asked boys in grades 7 to 12 to return to school on Saturday with their male teachers, but there was no mention of girls in those classes. going back to school. Earlier, the Taliban Minister of Higher Education had said that girls would have equal access to education, albeit in contexts of gender segregation.
“It’s getting really, really awkward. … Is this the stage where the girls are going to be forgotten? said Suraj. “I know they don’t believe the explanations, but the explanations are very important.”
Suraj has speculated that the conflicting statements may reflect divisions within the Taliban as they seek to consolidate their power, the more pragmatic within the movement losing to the extremists among them, at least for now.
Statements by Taliban leaders often reflect a desire to engage with the world, open public spaces to women and girls, and protect Afghan minorities. But the orders to his ranks on the ground are contradictory. Instead, restrictions, especially for women, have been implemented.
Suraj, an Afghan American who returned to Afghanistan in 2003 to promote women’s rights and education, said many of her fellow activists had left the country.
She said she stayed with the aim of engaging with the Taliban and finding common ground, but so far has not been able to get the Taliban leaders to meet with the Taliban. activists who remained in the country to discuss with the women the way forward.
“We have to talk. We have to find common ground,” she said.
Also on Saturday, an international flight from the Pakistani national carrier left Kabul airport with 322 passengers on board and an Iranian flight from Mahan Air left with 187 passengers on board, an airport official said.
The official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said the two flights took off on Saturday morning. The identity and nationality of those on board were not immediately known.
International flights were the last to leave Kabul last week, as technical teams from Qatar and Turkey worked to bring the airport up to standard for international commercial aircraft.
A Qatar Airways flight on Friday brought more Americans out of Afghanistan, according to Washington’s peace envoy, the third such airlift by the Middle East carrier since the Taliban takeover and the frantic withdrawal of American troops from the country.
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