Girls are prohibited from attending school after sixth grade. Women cannot board planes without a male relative. Women and men can only visit public parks together, and mobile phones in universities are not allowed.
It doesn’t end there.
As of this weekend, international media broadcasts (including the Persian and Pashto BBC services which are broadcast in the two languages spoken by Afghanistan) have been removed from the air. Foreign drama series are also off the air.
The international community was concerned that the Taliban would impose stricter laws than they did when they ruled Afghanistan in the middle of August, after the U.S. and NATO withdrawals after 20 years of war.
This month’s latest attack on women’s rights was made by the all-male, religiously driven Taliban government. They broke their promise to allow girls to go back to school after sixth grade. This shocked many people around the world, including those in Afghanistan, especially since the Taliban had made all the necessary assurances that this would not happen.
The United Nations called the ban on international media broadcasts “another step against the people in Afghanistan.”
Tarik Kafala, head of languages at BBC World Services, stated in a Sunday statement that “more than 6 million Afghans watch the BBC’s impartial and independent journalism on TV each week”
Monday saw members of the Taliban vice-and virtue ministry standing outside government ministries and ordering male employees to get home without traditional beards and turbans. This was seen as a sign of piety and was imposed on them by their followers. One worker who was ordered to go home stated that he wasn’t sure when or if he could return to work. The employee spoke anonymously out of concern for his safety.
According to senior Taliban officials and Afghans who are familiar with the Taliban’s leadership the push for the return to the past, which led to the edicts, emerged from a three day meeting last week in Kandahar, Kandahar’s southern city.
According to them, the Taliban’s supreme leader Haibatullah Akhundzada is trying to re-direct the country to late 1990s when it had outlawed women from education and public space, as well as music, television, and many other sports.
Torek Farhadi said that while the younger Taliban may not agree with certain edicts, they do not feel comfortable contradicting the elders. Farhadi was an analyst who advised previous Afghan governments. Farhadi, who was in touch with Taliban officials after their return to power, didn’t elaborate.
Farhadi stated that the more pragmatic Taliban are resisting the edicts or at the very least, silently ignoring them.
The Taliban have been trying transition from insurgency to war to governing since their takeover. Hardliners are increasingly at odds against the pragmatics about how to manage a country that is in the midst a humanitarian crisis and an economic free fall.
Today’s Taliban leadership is very different from that of Mullah Mohammed Omar, who was a reclusive founder and ruler of the Taliban movement in mid-1990s. He was a strong hand rule. There is a growing divide between the old guard who still believe in the brutal rule of the past, and the younger generation of Taliban leaders who envision a future of international engagement.
Younger generations see rights for men and women. However, this is still within the Islamic law’s interpretation. But it allows for school for women and girls in the workforce.
Farhadi stated that the younger Taliban must speak out.
Akhundzada still looks a lot like Mullah Omar. He prefers to live in Kandahar far from the public than to rule from Kabul, the Afghan capital. Pashtun tribal customs are also his beliefs — where women are kept away from the public and girls are married at puberty.
Before his rise to the top of the Taliban in 2016, Akhunzada was a madrassa (or a religious school) in Pakistan’s border areas. People who know Akhunzada claim that he doesn’t care about international outrage at the Taliban’s latest restrictive edicts or the growing discontentment and complaints from Afghans.
According to reports, Akhunzada vetoed opening schools for girls after sixth grade. This was a promise made by the Taliban in March at the beginning of the new school year. Many girls protested in Kabul on Saturday demanding their right to school.
Other ethnic Pashtuns have rejected Taliban tribal laws. Pashtun Pashtuns are also the dominant ethnic Pashtuns in Pakistan’s border regions. Movements such as the Pashtun rights Movement were formed to challenge tribal traditions and disavow Taliban interpretations.
Manzoor Pashteen is the leader of the movement and has been a vocal opponent. He has accused the Taliban, among other things, of taking over ethnic Pashtun sentiments, misrepresenting their traditions, and misinterpreting them into religious edicts.
The Taliban-appointed prime Minister, Hasan Akhund (also a hard-liner), is reportedly in decline due to Akhunzada’s savagery against progress. Last week, China’s top diplomat visited Kabul and met with Akhund.
Farhadi expressed hope that the younger, more pragmatic Taliban leaders would find their voice. He also urged for an outreach by Islamic countries, scholars, and Afghan scholars and politicians to them.
Farhadi stated that the Taliban movement requires reform. It is slow and frustrating for all involved. We must not give up.
