RASC News Agency: Local sources from Ghor province reveal that the Taliban have issued severe warnings to women, particularly widows, forbidding them from leaving their homes for work. In Lal wa Sarjangal district, the Taliban have explicitly threatened that any widow who attempts to work outside will face arrest and imprisonment. The Taliban’ “Amr bil Maroof” (Department for the Propagation of Virtue and Prevention of Vice) has reportedly conveyed to women: “Widows and women without guardians should die of hunger, but they are forbidden from seeking employment outside their homes.”
On Monday, October 7, the Taliban’s “Amr bil Maroof” officials in Lal wa Sarjangal issued a formal warning that under no circumstances are women allowed to engage in work outside their homes. The Taliban’s oppressive measures are not new. Their “Amr bil Maroof” law severely restricts the liberties of women, barring them from participating in public life altogether. Under this draconian law, the Taliban consider a woman’s face and voice as “Awrah” (private parts) and, therefore, forbid any interaction between women and non-mahram men (those unrelated by close kinship).
According to sources in Ghor, Taliban morality officers have also been patrolling markets, harassing men about their clothing and the length of their beards. In recent months, the Taliban have intensified their crackdown on both women and men. On October 3, the United States Institute of Peace published an analysis suggesting that the full implementation of the Taliban’s “Amr bil Maroof” law could gravely undermine basic human rights and further consolidate the “Taliban’s repressive regime.”
Despite the Taliban’s harsh treatment of Afghanistani women and girls, their fighters appear to treat foreign women differently. Recent images show Chinese women posing for photographs with Taliban fighters, who are armed with American-made weapons, and dining alongside them.
