The statement implements a cabinet decision, said a spokesman. The declaration was signed by the acting minister, Sheikh Neda Mohammed Nadim. Since taking power in August 2021, the Islamists have severely restricted women’s rights.
Girls and women are largely excluded from public life. Secondary schools from the seventh grade upwards have also been closed to girls since the change of government. In the country, women have recently been banned from visiting public parks and gyms.
US and UK condemn move
The Islamists have been back in power in Afghanistan since August 2021. Your government is not recognized internationally and is subject to sanctions. The humanitarian situation in the country has deteriorated sharply since then. Millions of people depend on support and food aid. There are also regular terrorist attacks in the country, which are often claimed by the terrorist militia Islamic State.
The US and Britain condemned the move during a UN Security Council session on Afghanistan. “The Taliban cannot expect to become a legitimate member of the international community until they respect the rights of all Afghans, particularly human rights and the fundamental freedoms of women and girls,” said US Representative Robert Wood.
Criticism from UN Special Envoy
Only a few hours before the announcement, the new UN special envoy for Afghanistan, Rosa Otunbayeva, lamented a tightening of the Taliban government course in a speech in New York. “We have seen a number of restrictions that are particularly harmful to women,” Otunbayeva said. “Their social space is now being restricted, as is their political space.”
The human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) called the ban a “shameful decision”. The Taliban made it clear every day that they did not respect the basic rights of the people in the country, especially women, HRW wrote on Twitter.
Public flogging
Since the Taliban seized power, draconian punishments have also been reintroduced. In early December, 18 men and nine women were punished with whippings, according to a court ruling in the provincial capital Charikar in the center of the country, local TV channel Tolonews reported, citing the country’s Supreme Court.
According to the court, the accused were accused of, among other things, theft, drug use or extramarital relationships. As recently as November, the Taliban had 14 people in the east of the country flogged in public. The US had taken it as a “appalling” sign that the Taliban were showing the world they were resuming the policies of the past.
First execution since seizure of power
During the first Taliban rule from 1996 to 2001, floggings, amputations and stonings were carried out in public. At the beginning of December, for the first time since the Islamists took power once more, it was confirmed that a man had been publicly executed.
The Taliban defended the reintroduction of these draconian punishments in Afghanistan. Criticism of Sharia, Islamic law, is an “insult to Islam”. The Taliban warned once morest interfering in internal affairs.
