The medieval darkness that descended on Afghanistan three years ago due to the hasty withdrawal of US forces that resulted in the reinstallation of the Taliban government is now complete so far as its women population is concerned. Women there are virtually enchained and shut out from public life, allowed to move on the streets covered from head to foot as if they are mobile corpses. In the latest diktat issued a few days back, they are literally deprived of their voice, debarred as they are from speaking in public before strangers. The Taliban rulers have issued a ban on women’s voices and bare faces in public under new laws approved by the supreme leader in efforts to “combat vice and promote virtue.” The laws were issued recently with the approval of the supreme leader Hibatullah Akhundzada. The Taliban had set up a ministry for the “propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice” after seizing power in 2021. The ministry published its vice and virtue laws recently that cover aspects of everyday life like public transportation, music, shaving and celebrations.
Set out in a 114-page document it is the first formal declaration of vice and virtue laws in Afghanistan since the Taliban takeover. The laws empower the ministry to be in the vanguard of regulating personal conduct, administering punishments like warnings or arrest if enforcers allege that Afghans have broken the laws. Article 13, relating to women, stipulates that 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. Clothing should not be thin, tight or short. Women should veil themselves in front of all male strangers, including Moslems and in front of all non-Moslems to avoid being corrupted. A woman’s 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. Article 19 bans the playing of music, the transportation of solo female travellers and the mixing of men and women who are not related to each other. The law also obliges passengers and drivers to perform prayers at designated times.
According to the ministry website, the promotion of virtue includes prayer, aligning the character and behaviour of Moslems with Islamic law, encouraging women to wear hijab and inviting people to comply with the five pillars of Islam. It also says the elimination of vice involves prohibiting people from doing things forbidden by Islamic law. It is anachronism at its worst that the Taliban’s war against girls and women has intensified in the 21st century. Deprived of education, work and even the opportunity to walk in parks or visit public baths, half of Afghanistan’s population lives the life of slaves. The Taliban’s rule is not merely a cruel and humiliating blow to their rights and dignity, but an existential threat.
In a report only a few months back the UN special rapporteur on human rights in Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, quoted one woman: “I was the breadwinner and now I have no job, no income and my children are asking for food, I have no choice but to consider suicide.” The Taliban have already killed many women lawyers, activists, students and police after subjecting them to torture and abuse. There are fears that they are soon going to resume public stoning. Till then women are condemned to a life of deprivations and dependence on abusive men which is as good as death. Many Afghan men and boys are also suffering with their women members in the family being robbed of the opportunity to contribute to family income. Some of them are treated brutally by the Taliban for resisting the mistreatment of women or failing to police the conduct of female relatives. The punishments for failure to comply with Taliban instructions “are often arbitrary, severe and disproportionate,” the UN mission in Afghanistan recently noted. Under the Taliban regime, there will be fewer women in each generation with educational qualifications enabling them to take up roles outside the home.
In short, the Taliban’s institutionalised gender oppression is depriving Afghanistan of its future women engineers, journalists, lawyers, biologists, politicians and poets. That is akin to putting the clock of civilisation back.