RASC News Agency: The Panjshir Women’s Movement has issued a powerful plea to the international community, urging global actors to break their prolonged silence and take decisive, meaningful action in defense of the rights of Afghanistan’s women, who continue to endure systematic oppression under Taliban rule. In a statement released on Wednesday, May 21, the movement expressed deep concern over the worsening crisis facing Afghanistani women, who, despite relentless persecution and institutionalized discrimination, continue to resist and fight for their most basic human rights.
“We, the women of Afghanistan, live amid darkness and unimaginable hardship,” the statement reads, “yet we have never allowed the flame of hope in our hearts to be extinguished.” The movement emphasized that although the voices of Afghanistani women have been brutally silenced for nearly four years, the world can no longer afford to turn a deaf ear. “The Taliban have turned our homes into silent prisons,” the statement declares. “They have killed our brothers, and are raising our children in an atmosphere saturated with fear, repression, and distrust.” Since the Taliban’s takeover in August 2021, Afghanistan has become the epicenter of one of the world’s most extreme examples of gender apartheid. Women have been stripped of nearly all public and private rights: barred from education, employment, freedom of movement, and participation in civic life. Girls are forbidden from attending school beyond sixth grade, and women are banned from working with NGOs, traveling without male escorts, or appearing in public without face coverings.
Despite this, women across the country particularly from historically resistant regions like Panjshir have continued to demonstrate extraordinary resilience. Members of the Panjshir Women’s Movement reaffirmed their unwavering refusal to submit to tyranny, declaring:
“We are not asking for pity. What we demand is the fundamental right to life, to freedom, and to human dignity rights that belong to every human being, regardless of gender, ethnicity, or faith.” In a direct appeal to the United Nations, human rights organizations, and democratic governments, the movement condemned the world’s inaction in the face of mounting Taliban atrocities.
“The time for indifference has passed. Silence now equates to complicity,” the statement warns. “It is time for the world to move beyond words and symbolic condemnations. Afghanistani women need concrete international action, legal protections, and mechanisms of accountability to confront this brutal regime.” As the Taliban continue to rule with fear, misogyny, and violence, calls from women-led resistance movements are growing louder. These voices, long suppressed, now echo across borders, demanding justice, freedom, and the restoration of human dignity.
