RASC News Agency: Despite the Taliban’s extreme repression of Afghanistani women, they exhibit contrasting behavior toward foreign women, especially from China. Over the past three years, the Taliban have issued numerous decrees against Afghanistani women, stripping them of their rights, even calling their voices improper. Yet, images have emerged showing Taliban fighters in relaxed settings with Chinese women, posing with American-made weapons and sharing meals. This paradox exposes the Taliban’s hypocrisy, as they enjoy freedoms with foreign women while Afghanistani women endure some of the world’s harshest restrictions.
In the images, Chinese women are seen dining with Taliban members, engaging in mock combat with American weapons, and strolling through parks, all while Afghanistani women are denied basic freedoms, including education and public space access. China’s close economic and diplomatic ties with the Taliban, involving several mining and infrastructure projects, further complicate this dynamic, with China offering political cover for Taliban rule despite their brutal treatment of Afghanistani women.
Reports by human rights organizations highlight this troubling contrast, as the Taliban’s treatment of Afghanistani women worsens with each passing day. While Chinese women interact freely and without headscarves in some images, Afghanistani women are confined to increasingly strict interpretations of Islamic law. This hypocritical behavior by the Taliban, treating foreign women with kindness while severely oppressing their own, reflects the deep contradictions at the heart of their rule.
According to the Taliban’s new “Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice” law, Afghanistani women’s voices are considered inappropriate in public settings, and women are forbidden to travel without a male relative. Public parks and baths are off-limits, and beauty salons have been shuttered. These restrictions continue to silence Afghanistani women while the Taliban’s relationships with foreign powers, like China, proceed without any regard for the rights of the women they govern.
