KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The Taliban authorities on Saturday ordered all foreign and home non-governmental teams in Afghanistan to droop using women, allegedly as a result of some feminine staff didn’t put on the Islamic scarf accurately. The ban was the most recent restrictive transfer by Afghanistan’s new rulers towards women’s rights and freedoms.
The improvement comes simply days after the Taliban banned feminine college students from attending universities throughout the nation. Afghan women have since demonstrated in main cities towards the ban, a uncommon signal of home protest for the reason that Taliban seized energy final 12 months. The choice has additionally brought on outrage and opposition in Afghanistan and past.
The order got here in a letter from Economy Minister Qari Din Mohammed Hanif, which stated that any NGO discovered not complying with the order could have their working license revoked in Afghanistan. The ministry’s spokesman, Abdul Rahman Habib, confirmed the letter’s content material to The Associated Press.
The ministry stated it had acquired “serious complaints” about feminine employees working for NGOs not sporting the “correct” scarf, or hijab. It was not instantly clear if the order applies to all women or solely Afghan women working on the NGOs.
More particulars weren’t instantly out there amid considerations the most recent Taliban ban may very well be a stepping-stone to a blanket ban on Afghan women leaving the house.
“It’s a heartbreaking announcement,” stated Maliha Niazai, a grasp coach at an NGO educating younger individuals about points equivalent to gender-based violence. “Are we not human beings? Why are they treating us with this cruelty?”
The 25-year-old, who works at Y-Peer Afghanistan and lives in Kabul, stated her job was necessary as a result of she was serving her nation and is the one particular person supporting her household. “Will the officials support us after this announcement? If not, then why are they snatching meals from our mouths?” she requested.
Another NGO employee, a 24-year-old from Jalalabad working the Norwegian Refugee Council, stated it was “the worst moment of my life.”
“The job gives me more than a … living, it is a representation of all the efforts I’ve made,” she stated, declining to offer her title fearing for her personal security.
Also Saturday, Taliban safety forces used a water cannon to disperse women protesting the ban on college schooling for women within the western metropolis of Herat, eyewitnesses stated.
According to the witnesses, about two dozen women have been heading to the Herat provincial governor’s home on Saturday to protest the ban — many chanting: “Education is our right” — after they have been pushed again by safety forces firing the water cannon.
Video shared with the AP reveals the women screaming and hiding in a facet avenue to flee the water cannon. They then resume their protest, with chants of “Disgraceful!”
One of the protest organizers, Maryam, stated between 100 and 150 women took half within the protest, transferring in small teams from completely different components of the town towards a central assembly level. She didn’t give her final title for concern of reprisals.
“There was security on every street, every square, armored vehicles and armed men,” she stated. “When we started our protest, in Tariqi Park, the Taliban took branches from the trees and beat us. But we continued our protest. They increased their security presence. Around 11 a.m. they brought out the water cannon.”
A spokesman for the provincial governor, Hamidullah Mutawakil, claimed there have been solely four-five protesters.
“They had no agenda, they just came here to make a film,” he stated, with out mentioning the violence towards the women or the usage of the water cannon.
There has been widespread worldwide condemnation of the college ban, together with from Muslim-majority international locations equivalent to Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar, in addition to warnings from the United States and the G-7 group of main industrial nations that the coverage could have penalties for the Taliban.
An official within the Taliban authorities, Minister of Higher Education Nida Mohammad Nadim, spoke in regards to the ban for the primary time on Thursday in an interview with the Afghan state tv.
He stated the ban was crucial to stop the blending of genders in universities and since he believes some topics being taught violated the ideas of Islam. He additionally added the ban can be in place till additional discover.
Despite initially promising a extra reasonable rule respecting rights for women and minorities, the Taliban have broadly applied their interpretation of Islamic regulation, or Sharia, since they seized energy in August 2021.
They have banned women from center faculty and highschool — and now universities — and likewise barred women from most fields of employment. Women have additionally been ordered to put on head-to-toe clothes in public and have been banned from parks and gymnasiums.
Afghan society, whereas largely conventional, had more and more embraced the schooling of ladies and women over the previous 20 years of a U.S.-backed authorities.
In the southwestern Pakistani metropolis of Quetta, dozens of Afghan refugee college students protested on Saturday towards the ban on feminine increased schooling of their homeland and demanded the speedy reopening of campuses for women.
One of them, Bibi Haseena, learn a poem depicting the grim scenario for Afghan women in search of an schooling. She stated was sad about graduating outdoors her nation when tons of of hundreds of her Afghan sisters have been being disadvantaged of an schooling.
