RASC News Agency: A recent report by The Telegraph, citing updated medical data from Afghanistan, reveals that gender apartheid under the Taliban has led to the denial of necessary surgeries for Afghanistani girls. According to the report, over 80% of surgeries performed at a pediatric hospital in Kabul have been on boys, with girls largely excluded from medical procedures. The article, published on Friday, March 1, underscores how Afghanistani girls, due to the Taliban’s discriminatory policies, are increasingly forced to rely on traditional medicine instead of receiving essential healthcare. The evidence, gathered through interviews with doctors and families across Afghanistan, highlights the severe restrictions that prevent girls and women from accessing medical care. Since their return to power in August 2021, the Taliban has imposed a series of oppressive measures targeting women. Under their decrees, women are prohibited from leaving their homes without a male guardian (Mahram). The regime has also forbidden the employment and education of girls and women in schools, universities, and medical institutions.
The Telegraph also emphasizes the strict measures imposed on Afghanistani women, including a ban on raising their voices in public and even within their own homes. Dr. Naimati, a physician in Herat, confirmed that since the Taliban’s resurgence, access to healthcare for women and girls particularly in rural areas has been severely restricted. He remarked, “In small clinics outside the cities, doctors are not even permitted to treat female patients. If they do, they face punishment.” Dr. Naimati further added, “Girls here are deprived of everything. The only thing they are still allowed to do is breathe.” The Telegraph shared the story of a woman whose daughter became seriously ill, but the Taliban prevented her from seeking treatment at a medical center. Gul Nisa, who lost her husband last year in a family dispute in their village in western Afghanistan, told The Telegraph, “My eight-year-old daughter had a severe cough, and I tried repeatedly to take her to a doctor.
Each time I stood by the road waiting for a vehicle to take us to the hospital, the Taliban would approach and ask where my husband was. I would tell them he had died, killed in the conflict.” However, Gul Nisa explains that the Taliban did not believe her and accused her of lying and attempting to commit a sin. As her daughter’s condition deteriorated, Gul Nisa was eventually able to seek assistance from a male relative, who accompanied her to the doctor. The Telegraph also notes that in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan, many who care for their daughters have fled the country, while those who remain “are struggling to survive.”
