As the Taliban continues its rapid insurgency throughout Afghanistan—sweeping through the country and on the verge of capturing the capital city of Kabul as the country’s Western-backed government collapses—an increasingly alarming humanitarian crisis has emerged.
One young female student in Kabul penned an anonymous letter in The Guardian on her fears of a Taliban takeover, mentioning that when news spread of the Taliban’s insurgency into Kabul, she and her sisters were quick to hide diplomas, student IDs, and any trace of their education. Reports of Taliban intimation of educators and shuttering of girls’ schools have already begun spreading.
Homaira Ayubi, Member of Afghanistan Parliament; Photo Credit to p.adolf, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia CommonsADVERTISEMENT Between 1996 and 2001, the Taliban placed rules on not just women’s ability to work or participate in political and public life, but also on their daily freedoms. Women were not permitted to leave their home without the accompaniment of a male relative, a restriction on their freedom of movement that in turn affects all other freedoms.
In 2009, Afghanistan made historical progress in curbing violence against women and girls in the country by passing the Elimination of Violence Against Women . The law made 22 abusive acts criminal including rape, battery, forced marriage, preventing women from acquiring property, prohibiting women and girls from going to work and school, among others.