RASC News Agency: On the third anniversary of the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan, Human Rights Watch has declared that the Taliban government has engendered the world’s most severe crisis for women’s rights. The organization reports that the Taliban have systematically marginalized women, stripping them of even their most basic rights. In a press release, Human Rights Watch expressed grave concern, stating that Afghanistan is currently facing one of the most severe humanitarian catastrophes globally. The forced expulsion of thousands of Afghanistanis from neighboring countries has further exacerbated these challenges.
The organization underscores that Afghanistan stands alone as the only country in the world where girls are barred from education beyond the sixth grade. The press release, quoting Farishta Abbasi, Human Rights Watch’s researcher for Afghanistan, notes that under Taliban rule, Afghanistani women are enduring “horrific” and extraordinarily challenging conditions. Ms. Abbasi urged all nations to support efforts to hold the Taliban leadership and all those responsible for grave crimes in Afghanistan accountable.
She further emphasized that the Taliban have waged a relentless campaign against women. Meanwhile, some Afghanistani women, expressing profound despair, assert that the Taliban’s policies toward women have led to severe psychological and emotional trauma. Rahela Talash remarked, “I know many women who have become isolated, who no longer possess the basic conditions essential for a living human being. They are merely breathing, disconnected from all other aspects of life. This dire situation has arisen from an environment dominated by a singular, oppressive ideology, leaving no room for anything else.”
She added that life has become unbearably difficult for women, to the point where even breathing is no longer a simple task. Another women’s rights activist, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the issue, stated, “With each passing day, women’s rights in Afghanistan are increasingly trampled upon. For three years now, their most fundamental right—education—has been stripped away. Since women were excluded from the workforce, poverty has surged. Many women have been forced into begging on the streets, pushing carts, or cleaning and polishing shoes to sustain their families.”
This distressing situation comes as the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom reported in its annual review last week that, since the Taliban’s return to power, freedoms across various sectors in Afghanistan have been severely curtailed.
