[VIDEO] Taliban say they want peace, will respect women's rights under Islamic law

[ahmedzee]

Women who used to worlk at Kabul Airport have started coming back to their jobs:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="ur" dir="rtl">کابل ائیرپورٹ پر خاتون عملہ ڈیوٹی پر واپس آ گیا <a href="https://t.co/E7H4WwVps8">pic.twitter.com/E7H4WwVps8</a></p>— افغان اردو (@AfghanUrdu) <a href="https://twitter.com/AfghanUrdu/status/1437335015868751877?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 13, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Slowly and steadily!

Looks a lot like women from Dubai international airport

 

[OMB]

Looks a lot like women from Dubai international airport

No. Women in Dubai International airport are a lot different. There maybe about 5% of woemn who dress like this and that too their faces aare unveiled.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Did I say anything about anyone intervening? I am simply saying that their comment about respecting women's rights under Islamic law was an oxymoron.

Yes, I already addressed this in an earlier post. To us it seems that way, but they don't have our western mindset so all this talk about archaic religious texts is going right over their heads for the most part.

 

[ahmedzee]

No. Women in Dubai International airport are a lot different. There maybe about 5% of woemn who dress like this and that too their faces aare unveiled.

Oh yeah, they at times don't wear Niqaab, you are absolutely correct.
Though they're on their phones all the time, hence the massive line up at the immigration

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

Yet another rally in favor of IEA by Afghan women.

This time in Maymana (Faryab province):

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="ur" dir="rtl">ہزاروں خواتین کا فاریاب کےصوبائی دارالحکومت میمنہ کا طالبان حکومت کی حمایت میں مظاہرہ<br>نعروں میں کہا جا رہا ہےکہ<br>ہم اسلامی نظام کی حمایت کرتےہیں<br>ہم ڈیموکریسی سےبیزارہیں<br>ہم اسلامی حقوق کےعلاوہ اور کچھ نہیں چاہتے<br>ڈیموکریسی مردہ باد<br>امارت اسلامی زندہ باد<br>خواتین ڈاکٹر،معلم بننےکاحق ہے <a href="https://t.co/OEzOBLEBd2">pic.twitter.com/OEzOBLEBd2</a></p>— افغان اردو (@AfghanUrdu) <a href="https://twitter.com/AfghanUrdu/status/1437837666784063496?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 14, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[MenInG]

ISLAMABAD, Sept 15 (Reuters) - Afghanistan's women's soccer team has left for neighbouring Pakistan, the information minister in Islamabad said on Tuesday, as questions linger over the status of female athletes under Taliban rule.

"We welcome Afghanistan women football team, they arrived at Torkham Border from Afghanistan," said Fawad Chaudhry, Pakistan's information minister, in a Tweet, adding they were received by a representative of the Pakistan Football Federation.

Chaudhry gave no details and it was not immediately clear how many players had entered the country and what their plans were.

The departure is part of a broader exodus of Afghan intellectuals and public figures, especially women, since the Taliban took over the country a month ago.

When the Islamist group last ruled Afghanistan two decades ago, girls were not allowed to attend school and women were banned from work and education. Women were barred from sports and that is likely to continue in this regime as well.

A Taliban representative last week told Australian broadcaster SBS that he did not think women would be allowed to play cricket because it was "not necessary" and would be against Islam.

"Islam and the Islamic Emirate do not allow women to play cricket or play the kind of sports where they get exposed," SBS quoted the deputy head of the Taliban's cultural commission, Ahmadullah Wasiq, as saying.

Several former and current women football players fled the country following the Taliban takeover, while a former captain of the team urged players still in Afghanistan to burn their sports gear and delete their social media accounts to avoid reprisals. read more

The sport's governing body FIFA said last month it was working to evacuate those remaining in the country

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

Heroines' welcome for Afghan female soccer team and their families in Lahore:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="ur" dir="rtl">افغانستان کی خواتین فٹ بال ٹیم پاکستان پہنچ گئی<br>پاکستان کے شہر لاہور میں انھیں پھولوں کے ہار پہنائے گئے۔ کھلاڑیوں کے گھر والے بھی ان کے ہمراہ ہیں <a href="https://t.co/LRSEL5ZCCt">pic.twitter.com/LRSEL5ZCCt</a></p>— افغان اردو (@AfghanUrdu) <a href="https://twitter.com/AfghanUrdu/status/1438107015503622155?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 15, 2021</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[JaDed]

https://www.dawn.com/news/1647044

Girls were excluded from returning to secondary school in Afghanistan on Saturday, after the country's new Taliban rulers ordered only boys and male teachers back to the classroom.

 

[OMB]

Afghanistan women’s soccer team escapes to Pakistan

Female players from Afghanistan’s junior national soccer team have crossed the border into Pakistan.

The girls had spent the past month in hiding amid fears of a crackdown on women’s rights by the Taliban.

Members of the women’s side flew out of Kabul last month but the youth team were reportedly left stranded as they lacked passports and other documents.

Thirty-two players and their families won visas after the charity “Football for Peace” lobbied Pakistan.

An official with Pakistan’s Football Federation said the group, totalling 81 people, would be housed at the federation’s headquarters in the eastern city of Lahore. A further 34 people were to arrive on Thursday he said.

The players will remain in Pakistan under tight security for 30 days before applying for asylum in third countries, the official said.

The Independent newspaper recently revealed that the players had written to Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan to ask for permission to urgently enter the country.

The letter claimed that the girls were at risk of “grave threats” from the Taliban.

After the fall of Kabul a month ago, players were warned by the national team’s former captain, Khalida Popal, to delete pictures of themselves playing on social media and to burn their kits to protect themselves from potential reprisals from the new regime.

Last week the deputy head of the Taliban’s cultural commission, Ahmadullah Wasiq, cast doubt over the future of women’s sport in the country when he said it was considered neither appropriate nor necessary in response to a question about the fate of the women’s cricket team.

“In cricket, they might face a situation where their face and body will not be covered. Islam does not allow women to be seen like this,” Wasiq said.

“It is the media era, and there will be photos and videos, and then people watch it. Islam and the Islamic Emirate [Afghanistan] do not allow women to play cricket or play the kind of sports where they get exposed.”

Women were barred from participating in sports during the Taliban’s last spell in power from 1996-2001.

Their departure is part of a wider exodus of Afghan sports and cultural stars amid fears of a crackdown on women’s rights following the takeover of the country by the Taliban after foreign forces withdrew. (BBC Sport)

https://www.sundayobserver.lk/2021/09/19/sports/afghanistan-women%E2%80%99s-soccer-team-escapes-pakistan

 

[MenInG]

About two dozen women activists protested outside Afghanistan's women's ministry on Sunday after it was closed by Taliban officials in power in Kabul and replaced by their Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

Female staff said they had been trying to return to work at the ministry for several weeks since the Taliban takeover last month, only to be told to go home.

The sign outside the Ministry of Women's Affairs has been replaced by one for the Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

“The Ministry of Women's Affairs must be reactivated,” said Baseera Tawana, one of the protesters outside the building. “The removal of women means the removal of human beings.”


When Taliban Islamists were in power from 1996-2001, girls were not allowed to attend school and women were banned from work and education.

During that period, the Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice became known as the group's moral police, enforcing its interpretation of Sharia that includes a strict dress code and public executions and floggings.

The protest came a day after some girls returned to primary schools with gender-segregated classes, but older girls faced an anxious wait with no clarity over if and when they would be able to resume their studies.

“You cannot suppress the voice of Afghan women by keeping girls at home and restricting them, as well as by not allowing them to go to school,” said protester Taranum Sayeedi.

“The women of Afghanistan today are not the women of 26 years ago.”

The protest lasted for about 10 minutes. After a short verbal confrontation with a man, the women got into cars and left, as Taliban in two cars observed from nearby. Over the past months, Taliban fighters broke up several women’s protests by force.

Taliban officials have said they will not return to their fundamentalist policies, including the ban on girls receiving an education.

Kabul municipality to female workers: stay home
Meanwhile, the interim mayor of Afghanistan’s capital said on Sunday that female employees in the Kabul city government had been told to stay home, with work only allowed for those who could not be replaced by men.

In his first news conference since being appointed by the Taliban, Mayor Hamdullah Namony said that before the Taliban takeover last month, just under one-third of close to 3,000 city employees were women, and that they had worked in all departments.

Namony said the female employees had been ordered to stay home, pending a further decision. He said exceptions had been made for women who could not be replaced by men, including some in the design and engineering departments and the attendants of public toilets for women. Namony did not say how many female employees had been forced to stay home.

“There are some areas that men can’t do it, we have to ask our female staff to fulfil their duties, there is no alternative for it,” he said.

Across Afghanistan, women in many areas have been told to stay home from jobs, both in the public and private sectors. However, the Taliban have not yet announced a uniform policy. The comments by the Kabul mayor were unusually specific and affected a large female workforce that had been involved in running a sprawling city of more than five million people.

Elsewhere, about 30 women, many of them young, held a news conference in a basement of a home tucked away in a Kabul neighbourhood. Marzia Ahmadi, a rights activist and government employee now forced to sit at home, said they would demand the Taliban re-open public spaces to women.

“It’s our right,” she said. “We want to talk to them. We want to tell them that we have the same rights as they have.”

Most of the participants said they would try to leave the country if they had an opportunity.

Namony also said the new government had begun removing security barriers in Kabul, a city that has endured frequent bombing and shooting attacks over the years. Such barriers — erected near ministries, embassies and private homes of politicians and warlords — had been commonplace in Kabul for years.

The mayor said private citizens would be charged for the work of taking down the barriers. While he said most barriers had been removed, reporters touring the city noted that barriers outside most government installations and embassies had been left in place.

'Our people need help'
Witnesses, meanwhile, said an explosion targeted a Taliban vehicle in the eastern provincial city of Jalalabad, and hospital officials said five people were killed in the second such deadly blast in as many days in the militant Islamic State (IS) group stronghold.

The Taliban and IS extremists are enemies and fought each other even before the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan last month.

Hospital officials in Jalalabad said they received the bodies of five people killed in the explosion. Among the dead were two civilians, including a child, and three others who according to witnesses were in a targeted border police vehicle and were believed to be Taliban.

The Taliban were not immediately available for comment about possible casualties among their ranks.

On Saturday, three explosions targeted Taliban vehicles in Jalalabad, killing three people and wounding 20, witnesses said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

With the Taliban facing major economic and security problems as they attempt to govern, a growing challenge by IS militants would further stretch their resources.

The Taliban have tried to present themselves as guarantors of security, in hopes that this will win them support from a public still widely suspicious of their intentions. Under the previous government, a rise in crime had been a major concern for ordinary Afghans.

Perhaps the toughest challenge faced by the new Taliban rulers is the accelerated economic downturn. Even before the Taliban takeover, Afghanistan was plagued by major problems, including large-scale poverty, drought and heavy reliance on foreign aid for the state budget.

In a sign of growing desperation, street markets have sprung up in Kabul where residents are selling their belongings. Some of the sellers are Afghans hoping to leave the country, while others are forced to offer their meagre belongings in hopes of getting money for the next meal.

“Our people need help, they need jobs, they need immediate help, they are not selling their household belongings for choice here,” said Kabul resident Zahid Ismail Khan, who was watching the activity in one of the impromptu markets.

“For a short-term people might try to find a way to live, but they would have no other choice to turn to begging in a longer term,” he said.

DAWN

 

[OMB]

"We Will Not Remain Silent": Afghan Woman Business Leader On Taliban Rule

Taliban have increasingly excluded women from public life since sweeping to power in mid-August.

An Afghan business leader who employs hundreds of women on her saffron fields has vowed to speak up for the rights of her workers, and "not remain silent" under Taliban rule.
The hardliners have increasingly excluded women from public life since sweeping to power in mid-August, pushing many female entrepreneurs to flee the country or go into hiding.

Many fear a return to their brutally oppressive rule from 1996 to 2001 when women were effectively banned from going to school or work, and only allowed to leave the house with a male relative.

"We will raise our voice so that it reaches their ears," said Shafiqeh Attai, who started her saffron company in the western city of Herat in 2007.

"No matter what happens we won't just sit at home, because we have worked very hard."

'We will not remain silent'

Attai's business, the Pashton Zarghon Saffron Women's Company, produces, processes, packages and exports the world's most expensive spice with an almost exclusively female workforce.

More than 1,000 women pick the brightly coloured crocuses across the company's 25 hectares (60 acres) of land in the Pashton Zarghon district of Herat Province, which borders Iran.

Another 55 hectares are independently owned and operate under the collective that Attai set up for women saffron pickers, who are represented by union leaders.

Employing women allows them to be breadwinners for their families, Attai said, enabling them to send their children to school, and to buy them clothing and other essentials.

"I worked hard to establish my business," the 40-year-old said. "We don't want to sit quietly and be ignored. Even if they ignore us, we will not remain silent."

Alternative to opium

The ousted, Western-backed government encouraged farmers to grow the spice -- used in dishes from biryani to paella -- in a bid to wean them away from Afghanistan's huge and problematic poppy industry.

Still, the country remains by far the world's biggest producer of opium and heroin, supplying between 80 and 90 percent of global output.

During their previous stint in power, the Taliban -- who used the sale of opium to fund their insurgency -- destroyed much of the crop ostensibly to eradicate it, though critics said it was to drive up the value of their huge stockpiles.

The cultivation of poppies has again surged in recent years, as poverty and instability increased. Afghanistan's production area is now roughly four times larger now than in 2002, according to the United Nations.

'Red gold'

Herat Province produces the vast majority of Afghanistan's saffron.

At more than $5,000 per kilogram (2.2 pounds), saffron is the world's most expensive spice, and Attai's company produces between 200 and 500 kilos each year.

The pistil of the flower has for centuries been used around the world in cooking, perfumes, medicines, tea and even as an aphrodisiac -- and because of its high price has been dubbed "red gold" by those who rely on its cultivation.

Best grown in the baking hot sun, the bright purple saffron flowers are harvested in October and November by armies of workers, many of them women in their fifties and sixties, who start picking at dawn before the plants wilt later in the day.

Labourers then prise apart the delicate lilac leaves, vivid red stigmas and pale yellow stamens -- painstaking work that demands concentration and skill.

'Hard work'

Attai is concerned not just about the future of her business, but also for women across Afghanistan who are living in limbo, uncertain about jobs, education and representation in government.

"Now that the government of the Islamic Emirate is here we are very worried that they will block our work," she said.

"They haven't given girls the permission to go back to school and university, and they haven't given any women posts in the government -- I am worried about what will happen," she added.

"I'm not just thinking about myself, I'm thinking about all those that this business supports to run their homes," she said, noting that some of her employees are the sole breadwinners in their families.

"I am worried that 20 years of hard work by these women will go to waste."

'Cannot be ignored'

In the 20 years between the US-led ouster of the Taliban in 2001 and the Islamists' return, many women became business leaders, particularly in cities like Herat.

Long a key commercial hub near Iran and Turkmenistan's borders, the city has in recent months suffered from the flight of many businesswomen.

Younes Qazizadeh, head of the city's chamber of commerce, told AFP that he hoped the Taliban would make an official announcement to indicate that "women could come back and do business under this government as well".

For now, the fate of businesses like Attai's hangs on a thread.

"It is our hope to start women's businesses again in our country," Qazizadeh added.

Attai said that for now, she is staying in her homeland because she has "some hope" that her business can survive.

Ahead of the US pullout, a mammoth airlift saw 124,000 people evacuated from Kabul airport.

"I could have left as well. But I didn't leave because all the hard work and effort that we put in should not be ignored," Attai said.

"I don't think they will block our work," she added, referring to the Taliban.

"We are a company which is completely run by women and employs women -- not a single man is brave enough to stop that. A woman who has shovelled her fields day and night cannot be ignored."

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/taliban-takeover-afghanistan-news-we-will-not-remain-silent-afghan-woman-business-leader-on-taliban-rule-2555175

 

[Last Monetarist]

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/protests-get-harder-afghan-women-amid-risks-red-tape-2021-10-04/

Women in Afghanistan who object to what the Taliban have said and done since returning to power are finding it harder to protest, now that impromptu demonstrations have been banned and previous rallies were broken up by gunfire and beatings.

Resistance within families and concerns over sharing information over social media that could identify people involved are also acting as deterrents, according to six female protesters Reuters spoke to across the country.

Sporadic demonstrations by women demanding that the Taliban respect their civil freedoms have been captured on social media, as have the sometimes violent responses, drawing the world's attention to issues of equality and human rights.

The last time the Taliban ruled in the 1990s, they banned women from work and girls from school, allowed women to leave their homes only when accompanied by a male relative and insisted that women wore all-enveloping burqas.

Those who broke the rules were sometimes whipped in public by the Islamist militants' "moral police".

This time the Taliban are promising greater freedom for women, including in education and employment, in accordance with their interpretation of Islamic law.

Yet older girls are still not back at school, there are no women in senior positions in the new government, the Women's Ministry in Kabul has been shut and the Taliban have said women will only be allowed to work in a small number of jobs.

Women wanting to express their anger publicly are struggling to do so. Six who took part in demonstrations after the Taliban stormed to power on Aug. 15 said they had not done so since early September.

"We have a lot of plans to stage more protests, but unfortunately due to security concerns, we are not going out much right now," said Nasima Bakhtiary, a former commerce ministry worker in Kabul.

"We have seen so much harassment ... regarding our protests ... we have to be careful."

Earlier this month, the Taliban said protests were not banned, but that those wanting to hold demonstrations needed to seek prior permission and provide details of place, timings and slogans that would be chanted.

Taliban spokespeople did not respond to requests for comment for this story.

Based on interviews with organisers, social media posts and advocacy groups, Reuters counted seven significant women-led protests between Aug. 15, when the Taliban came to power, and Sept 8. when they made permission necessary.

Since Sept. 8, Reuters has counted one, on Sept. 19 outside the women's ministry building in Kabul after it was shut down. The sign outside has been switched to that of the Ministry for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice - the moral police.

Maryam Sadat, a 23-year-old law student and protest organiser in Kabul, said she and a small number of others had tried to stage a demonstration on Sept. 30, but it was dispersed by members of the Taliban.

Women have also been involved in broader protests, some of which have involved hundreds of people. Several people have been killed, some demonstrators have been beaten and the Taliban have fired warning shots in the air to disperse crowds.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights last month condemned the violence against protesters, including women.

"As Afghan women and men take to the streets during this time of great uncertainty in their country to press peacefully for their human rights to be respected ... it is crucial that those in power listen to their voices," it said.

Women like Taranom Seyedi said they were scared to continue to demonstrate.

The 34-year-old women's rights activist in Kabul who helped organise some of the protests there said she had received letters saying the Taliban had made a list of all the women who protested and would conduct house searches for them.

She does not know who sent the letters, but has erased protest-related content from her social media accounts as a precaution, and said others had done so too.

Sadat went further.

"Since my participation in the protest, I've had to relocate twice ... My family is terrified, and even my neighbours are concerned and urging me not to join."

Others spoke of pushback from those close to them, including Zulaikha Akrami, a 24-year-old international relations graduate who worked at a foreign non-profit organisation in the northeastern province of Badakhshan.

"My mother tried to threaten me not to go and said if you go, don't call me mother," said Akrami, referring to a demonstration she attended in Badakhshan on Sept. 8.

She said she recalled her younger brother telling her: "If they beat you to death, I won't be there to pick up your body off the street."

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

Afghanistan: Taliban envoys start talks in Norway

Afghanistan: Taliban envoys start talks in Oslo

For the first time since they seized power in Afghanistan, the Taliban are holding official talks in Europe. The meetings are to center around humanitarian aid.

A Taliban delegation on Sunday began talks in Oslo with Afghan civil society members focused on human rights, Norway's Foreign Ministry said, before it goes on to hold meetings with Western diplomats on Monday and Tuesday.

Those attending Sunday's talks include women's rights activists and human rights advocates from Afghanistan and the Afghan diaspora.

The Taliban delegation arrived in Oslo late on Saturday.

The talks beginning Monday will mark the Taliban's first meeting with Western diplomats in Europe since the group seized power in Afghanistan in August last year.

An all-male 15-member delegation arrived on a plane organized by the Norwegian government, according to a Taliban spokesman.

The vastly disparate parties are due to discuss human rights and humanitarian aid for Afghans during their talks.

The hard-line militants will meet Norwegian and European Union officials, as well as representatives from the UK, France, Germany, Italy and the US.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/afghanistan-taliban-envoys-start-talks-in-norway/a-60527485

NGL, I predicted these visits for December 2021 but these are happening in January 2022.

Anyways, a good sign. This is a very good news.

Insha'Allah there will be a bright future for Afghan women. And I pray the present conditions keep on steadily improving.

This is yet another slap on the ugly faces of warmongers who want Afghanistan to remain in a perpetual stone age war.

 

[Manunited18]

Great news. Hopefully now the world can start to communicate with the regime on various issues which are hindering the development of the country as well as help for people who are suffering .

 

[JaDed]

Good .. so the boycott from western world has made Taliban take actions, next hopefully Afghan women in sports.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Good .. so the boycott from western world has made Taliban take actions, next hopefully Afghan women in sports.

What actions has the Taliban been forced to take by western boycott?

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

---

A modest but very important beginning for Taliban government.

A US State Department official said that the agenda of the talks would be about the "formation of a representative political system, responses to the urgent humanitarian and economic crises, security and counter-terrorism concerns, and human rights, especially education for girls and women."

 

[James]

NGL, I predicted these visits for December 2021 but these are happening in January 2022.

Anyways, a good sign. This is a very good news.

Insha'Allah there will be a bright future for Afghan women. And I pray the present conditions keep on steadily improving.

This is yet another slap on the ugly faces of warmongers who want Afghanistan to remain in a perpetual stone age war.

Great news. Hopefully now the world can start to communicate with the regime on various issues which are hindering the development of the country as well as help for people who are suffering .

Totally agree, Afghanistan must not be isolated for the good of its ordinary citizens.

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

Totally agree, Afghanistan must not be isolated for the good of its ordinary citizens.

Isolation will only bring resentment and "the terrorists" have easy pickings to manipulate and recruit young and uneducated minds.

Even if a handful of steps are taken, like Taliban government making it easy for girls to go to schools, these will have a long lasting effect on country's future.

Right now, as far as "women rights" are concerned, Afghanistan is in a negative score. This is a first positive in a very long time with no disrespect to the ONGs that were operating during Western occupation.

 

[JaDed]

What actions has the Taliban been forced to take by western boycott?

From the post above:

“A Taliban delegation on Sunday began talks in Oslo with Afghan civil society members focused on human rights, Norway's Foreign Ministry said, before it goes on to hold meetings with Western diplomats on Monday and Tuesday.

Those attending Sunday's talks include women's rights activists and human rights advocates from Afghanistan and the Afghan diaspora.”
—————


Atleast they have come to the table to discuss this.

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

From the post above:

“A Taliban delegation on Sunday began talks in Oslo with Afghan civil society members focused on human rights, Norway's Foreign Ministry said, before it goes on to hold meetings with Western diplomats on Monday and Tuesday.

Those attending Sunday's talks include women's rights activists and human rights advocates from Afghanistan and the Afghan diaspora.”
—————


Atleast they have come to the table to discuss this.

From my understanding they were always willing to come to the table, Pakistan was involved in trying to get western govts and Taliban to this table. That just means both sides will put their point of view. It doesn't mean one will necessarily concede one way or the other.

Your conjecture that Taliban have been forced by the western boycott is just a reflection of your own mindset, not theirs.

 

[JaDed]

From my understanding they were always willing to come to the table, Pakistan was involved in trying to get western govts and Taliban to this table. That just means both sides will put their point of view. It doesn't mean one will necessarily concede one way or the other.

Your conjecture that Taliban have been forced by the western boycott is just a reflection of your own mindset, not theirs.

Isn’t it Humanitarian Aid the reason they are coming to talk?(As per the article again)

“The meetings are to center around humanitarian aid.”

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

British Prime Minister's Special Representative for Afghanistan Nigel Casey and acting Foreign Minister of Taliban Amir Khan Muttaqi speak in Oslo, Norway


The Taliban and Western diplomats are meeting in Norway, with the fundamentalist group pushing to unfreeze Afghan assets abroad. The gathering comes as Afghanistan faces a dire humanitarian crisis.

The Taliban and Western diplomats launched high-level talks in Oslo on Monday, according to the Norwegian Foreign Ministry.

The Taliban's delegation, led by acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan, met with envoys from the US, France, UK, Germany, the EU and Norway.

It's the first talks that Western officials have held with the Taliban since the extremist group seized control of Afghanistan last August.

Source: https://m.dw.com/en/taliban-western-envoys-discuss-afghanistan-crisis-in-oslo/a-60535415

 

[Cpt. Rishwat]

Isn’t it Humanitarian Aid the reason they are coming to talk?(As per the article again)

“The meetings are to center around humanitarian aid.”

Two sides coming together for a discussion doesn't necessarily translate as being forced. Both might have reasons of their own for attending.

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

Oslo talks end, Taliban go back to Afghanistan

Source:
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/1/26/west-links-afghan-humanitarian-aid-to-human-rights


At Oslo talks, West presses Taliban on rights, girls education

Afghan FM Muttaqi says Oslo meeting will help secure support for humanitarian, health and education sectors.


Closed-door meetings were held during the Taliban’s first official trip to Europe since returning to power in August. Following the talks, the Taliban delegation left Norway late on Tuesday without making any final statements.


<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="ur" dir="rtl"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%D9%86%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%88%DB%92?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ناروے</a وزیر خارجہ مولوی امیر خان متقی کی قیادت میں امارت اسلامیہ کے وفد نے <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%D8%A7%D9%88%D8%B3%D9%84%D9%88?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#اوسلو</a> میں امریکہ، برطانیہ، ناروے، جرمنی، اٹلی، قطر، فرانس اور یورپی یونین کے خصوصی نمائندوں سے ملاقات کی۔ <a href="https://t.co/voNNCUPbUS">pic.twitter.com/voNNCUPbUS</a></p>— افغان اردو (@AfghanUrdu) <a href="https://twitter.com/AfghanUrdu/status/1485612732762279937?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 24, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="ur" dir="rtl"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%D8%A7%D9%88%D8%B3%D9%84%D9%88?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#اوسلو</a وزیر خارجہ امیر خان متقی سے جرمنی کے خصوصی نمائندے جیسپر وریک کی ملاقات، افغانستان میں رہ جانے والے جرمن شہریوں کی بحفاظت واپسی سمیت لڑکیوں کے تمام تعلیمی ادارے کھولنے اور باہمی دلچسپی کے امور پر بات چیت ہوئی <a href="https://t.co/h8nkccqaht">pic.twitter.com/h8nkccqaht</a></p>— افغان اردو (@AfghanUrdu) <a href="https://twitter.com/AfghanUrdu/status/1486340657065213959?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="ur" dir="rtl"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/%D8%A7%D9%88%D8%B3%D9%84%D9%88?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#اوسلو</a افغان وزیر خارجہ امیر خان متقی سے <br>افغانستان کے لئے اقوام متحدہ کے سابق خصوصی نمائندے کائی ایدی کی ملاقات، ذرائع ابلاغ کی آزادی اور خواتین کی تعلیم تک رسائی کا مطالبہ، امریکہ افغانستان کے منجمد اثاثے فوری بحال کرے، کائی ایدی <a href="https://t.co/L7OOt4hPQC">pic.twitter.com/L7OOt4hPQC</a></p>— افغان اردو (@AfghanUrdu) <a href="https://twitter.com/AfghanUrdu/status/1486380804796149763?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 26, 2022</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[JaDed]

Why no final statement, it’s not much that delegation is asking , just more rights for Afghan women which were there an year ago!

Taliban need to accept that they need the aid for their survival as well, just accept this and atleast it will pave the way for their recognition.

 

[KingKhanWC]

Its good to see the Taliban working to improve their nation.

Leave the Afghans alone for few decades and they might just build a better nation for all.

 

[ishtiaq_ctg]

Its good to see the Taliban working to improve their nation.

Leave the Afghans alone for few decades and they might just build a better nation for all.

Better tell that to Pakistani regime first.

 

[Gharib Aadmi]

Better tell that to Pakistani regime first.

Pakistan govt has no problem with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. So they will not interfere in their affairs, and it would be great if the rest of the world did the same. People in Afghanistan have suffered enough. The war is over, let their be peace now.

 

[JaDed]

Pakistan govt has no problem with the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. So they will not interfere in their affairs, and it would be great if the rest of the world did the same. People in Afghanistan have suffered enough. The war is over, let their be peace now.

Many will not survive without humanitarian aid, they need the world more than one thinks!

 

[Gharib Aadmi]

Many will not survive without humanitarian aid, they need the world more than one thinks!

Yes Afghanistan needs foreign money. What they dont need is outsiders try to do a regime change, when finally their is peace in the country. Also trying to impose Western values on them, such as LGBT rights, is unrealistic. If the aid is truly humanitarian it should be with no strings attached.

 

[JaDed]

Yes Afghanistan needs foreign money. What they dont need is outsiders try to do a regime change, when finally their is peace in the country. Also trying to impose Western values on them, such as LGBT rights, is unrealistic. If the aid is truly humanitarian it should be with no strings attached.

No one is imposing LGBT , if they could only give the rights to women which existed in previous regime it will be sorted and it would serve a way to recognize them.

 

[James]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-60211703

<b>NZ to allow in pregnant reporter who sought Taliban help</b>

A pregnant New Zealand journalist who said she turned to the Taliban for help after being unable to return home has been granted re-entry after an outcry.

Charlotte Bellis said she had flown to Afghanistan after being unable to get an entry spot under New Zealand's strict Covid border rules.

Her story highlighted Wellington's tough border measures which are designed to keep out the coronavirus.

But others took issue with her privileged connections to the Taliban.

The Taliban has been regularly criticised for brutally clamping down on women's rights in recent months.

They have been accused of arresting, torturing and even killing activists and campaigners.

On Tuesday, following significant public attention around the case, the New Zealand government said they had offered a quarantine spot to Ms Bellis and set up flight arrangements.

"There is a place in managed isolation and quarantine for Ms Bellis and I urge her to take it up," Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson told reporters at a daily Covid briefing.

He denied that the action had come as a result of the attention on her case, saying staff dealt daily with emergency applications.

"They always try to make contact with people and try to make arrangements work."

The New Zealand government had previously said it had twice offered consular assistance to Ms Bellis, who wrote about her experience in a national newspaper on Saturday.

In her column for the New Zealand Herald, Ms Bellis said the government had last week rejected her application to return home to give birth.

Currently, Wellington allows citizens and permanent residents to enter, but only if they spend 10 days isolating in quarantine hotels.

As there is high demand for such facilities and a limited number of spots, many New Zealanders wishing to return have effectively been shut out of their country for about two years now.

She compared that experience to the way she was treated by the Taliban, whom she had contacted to ask if she would be welcome in Afghanistan as an unmarried pregnant woman.

When she spoke to senior Taliban officials, Ms Bellis was in Belgium with her partner, a Belgian photojournalist. However, the time on her visa was running out as she was not a resident there.

Afghanistan was the only place she and her partner had visas for, as they had been in Afghanistan last year covering the withdrawal of US troops.

"You can come and you won't have a problem. Just tell people you're married and if it escalates, call us," Ms Bellis quoted the unnamed officials as saying in response to her request.

"When the Taliban offers you - a pregnant, unmarried woman - safe haven, you know your situation is messed up," she wrote.

Single Afghan mothers have reported being frequently harassed by Taliban officials, pressured to give up their children, and having their custodial rights threatened.

After Ms Bellis' letter was published, there were calls for New Zealand authorities to adjust the emergency quarantine allocation criteria to specifically cater for pregnant women.

Authorities defended the policy on Monday, saying the system had "served New Zealand exceptionally well, saved lives and hospital admissions and kept our health system from being swamped".

The government also said Ms Bellis had been advised to apply for a visa again under a separate emergency category.

It's unclear if that took place, or if she has now been granted entry under her original application.

Ms Bellis had said that she had also been offered asylum in another unnamed country since going public with her struggle.

However, her story has been criticised by some observers, rights activists and Afghans themselves.

"The story is just a continuation of how non-Afghans are treated differently by the Taliban ... than Afghans," tweeted Austrian-Afghan journalist Emran Feroz.

"Journalists who were seen as Afghans often faced threats, beatings, torture and murder while non-Afghans ... had tons of privileges and were welcomed and treated softly by all sides," he added.

Most recently, there have been calls for the Taliban to release a number of women's rights activists who have not been seen after their homes were raided and they were arrested.

 

[JaDed]

https://www.dawn.com/news/1674165

How the Taliban's return has changed Afghan women's lives

After seizing control of Afghanistan in August 2021 the Taliban promised a softer version of the harsh rule that characterised their first stint in power, when women were stripped of most of their rights.

This time around the movement has largely refrained from issuing rigid national edicts, but authorities at a provincial level have introduced rules and guidelines dictating how women should live.

Here are some areas of women's lives impacted by the Taliban's return:

Employment
The Taliban say they allow women to work as long as they are segregated from men.

In practice, however, women are effectively barred from employment — particularly for the government — apart from in specialised sectors such as health care and education.

Even women working in the private sector complain of being harassed going to and from their offices, while Taliban intelligence operatives frequently visit commercial enterprises to make sure strict segregation is enforced.

In some places, however, small women-only cooperatives have been able to continue — such as a jasmine processing facility in the ancient western city of Herat, long considered liberal by Afghan standards.

Still, tens of thousands of Afghan women have been made jobless by the Taliban's return, overturning two decades of progress in diversifying all aspects of their employment — from the police to courts.

Education
The Taliban say all girls are entitled to an education, but the majority of secondary schools at least — for those aged from 13 to 18 — have not reopened since August.

Officials now say education for all will resume by the end of March, but an exodus of teachers and a ban on men leading classes for girls means it will be difficult for them to meet that target.

Most private universities have resumed, also while suffering a teacher shortage. But classes must be segregated by sex and there can be no mingling of men and women between lessons.

Some government universities resumed under similar constraints last week, but there was only a trickle of attendance by women at most facilities.

Personal freedoms
During their first stint in power, the Taliban made it compulsory for women to wear an all-covering burqa in public, and agents of the feared Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice would lash anyone caught without.

The ministry put up posters across Kabul last month “suggesting” women should at least wear the less restrictive hijab or headscarf — but the message was accompanied by pictures of the burqa.

An order was also issued saying women could not travel between cities and towns unless accompanied by a male relative, and taxi drivers were told not to pick up female passengers unless they wore head coverings.

Beauty parlours and fashion boutiques were booming before the Taliban's return, but they have largely disappeared.

Meanwhile, shop mannequins have been beheaded in Herat and billboards featuring the human form taken down because they are deemed un-Islamic.

Sport and culture
Television channels have been ordered to stop showing dramas and soap operas featuring women actors, while female journalists must wear a hijab in front of cameras.

A senior Taliban official has said it is “unnecessary” for women to play sport, but they have been wary of formalising that philosophy because funding from the organisations that govern world sport — including football and cricket — depends on allowing all sexes to play.

Many of the country's leading singers, musicians, artists and photographers have fled since the Taliban's return, while those who couldn't escape have gone into hiding or are keeping a very low profile.

 

[Markhor]

My heart goes out to Afghan women who even by the standards of conservative Islamic nations live in a very oppressive society. But I'm sick of hearing about this topic.

Afghanistan even pre-Taliban was never a haven of womens' rights. The odd image of veil-less women from the 60s/70s when Afghanistan was part of the hippie trail was not representative of wider Afghan society.

The vast majority of the population live in isolated rural communities, and in crippling poverty. They are virtually cut off from the outside world and have no conception of western notions of gender equality.

Surely 20 years of evidence is enough to demonstrate the futility of these foolish fantasies about exporting Western style democracy in a tribal society. Ultimately it's for Afghans themselves to change their society. Focus on small realistic steps instead.

 

[JaDed]

My heart goes out to Afghan women who even by the standards of conservative Islamic nations live in a very oppressive society. But I'm sick of hearing about this topic.

Afghanistan even pre-Taliban was never a haven of womens' rights. The odd image of veil-less women from the 60s/70s when Afghanistan was part of the hippie trail was not representative of wider Afghan society.

The vast majority of the population live in isolated rural communities, and in crippling poverty. They are virtually cut off from the outside world and have no conception of western notions of gender equality.

Surely 20 years of evidence is enough to demonstrate the futility of these foolish fantasies about exporting Western style democracy in a tribal society. Ultimately it's for Afghans themselves to change their society. Focus on small realistic steps instead.

While that is true, women are just demanding the few rights they had during previous rule, it’s one thing to have a status quo but another to go backwards.

 

[Markhor]

While that is true, women are just demanding the few rights they had during previous rule, it’s one thing to have a status quo but another to go backwards.

I can't understand why the Taliban can't look at the Iranian example. Iran is still a conservative theocracy yet under the Ayatollahs the female literacy rate and female enrolment in higher education has increased exponentially.

 

[KingKhanWC]

My heart goes out to Afghan women who even by the standards of conservative Islamic nations live in a very oppressive society. But I'm sick of hearing about this topic.

Afghanistan even pre-Taliban was never a haven of womens' rights. The odd image of veil-less women from the 60s/70s when Afghanistan was part of the hippie trail was not representative of wider Afghan society.

The vast majority of the population live in isolated rural communities, and in crippling poverty. They are virtually cut off from the outside world and have no conception of western notions of gender equality.

Surely 20 years of evidence is enough to demonstrate the futility of these foolish fantasies about exporting Western style democracy in a tribal society. Ultimately it's for Afghans themselves to change their society. Focus on small realistic steps instead.

For hundreds of years, going back thousands, foriegners have invaded Afghanistan. As a result they werent able to advance through education especially in the last 100 years. When invaders arrive, they rape & kidnapp women, the men become protective, this then evolves in extreme views against women due to lack of education and advancment in modern fields and also Islamic principles.

Pregnant New Zealand journalist says she's had to turn to Taliban for help after being denied entry to home country

Charlotte Bellis says it is "brutally ironic" that she had once questioned the Taliban about their treatment of women and girls - and was now asking the same question of her own government.

https://news.sky.com/story/pregnant...r-being-denied-entry-to-home-country-12527989

 

[Chief Destroyer]

Continue ignoring the western garbage. It has no place in the Muslim world. However, Afghans need to educate themselves on women rights in Islam. They are quite ignorant in this regard. This goes for Pakistani Pashtuns as well that live outside the cities.

 

[James]

I can't understand why the Taliban can't look at the Iranian example. Iran is still a conservative theocracy yet under the Ayatollahs the female literacy rate and female enrolment in higher education has increased exponentially.

Indeed, spot on.

 

[KingKhanWC]

'It's a very surreal situation' - Pregnant New Zealand reporter who had to turn to Taliban for help

I thought according to the BBC and CNN , Taliban are evil, who kill abuse women while NZ , Jacinda Ardern is a liberal hero with a cape who saves all inc preganant women, what am I missing here? Anyone help?

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

I can't understand why the Taliban can't look at the Iranian example. Iran is still a conservative theocracy yet under the Ayatollahs the female literacy rate and female enrolment in higher education has increased exponentially.

Well said. IIRC in Iran in 2021 there were a higher number of female university graduates than male.

Taliban are asking themselves these same questions and "newer" generations will improve on this, Insha'Allah.

But so many foreign hands DO NOT want Afghan women's situation to improve, because these evil instigators need chaos for fulfilment of their filthy agendas. At least, this is how I read the whole situation.

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

I thought according to the BBC and CNN , Taliban are evil, who kill abuse women while NZ , Jacinda Ardern is a liberal hero with a cape who saves all inc preganant women, what am I missing here? Anyone help?

The Zionist / Indian media created fake matrix exposed, yet again.

Shameless lot, these liars and their minions.

 

[Gharib Aadmi]

I can't understand why the Taliban can't look at the Iranian example. Iran is still a conservative theocracy yet under the Ayatollahs the female literacy rate and female enrolment in higher education has increased exponentially.

Ayatollahs are way smarter than the Taliban. Besides from the literacy rates, they have made Iran progress considerably in science. The taliban on the other hand are thugs who only know how to fight.

 

[WhenSultansBowled]

Taliban's most-wanted leader Haqqani appears in public

Around 377 men and women graduated as police officers on Saturday.

Haqqani also commented on the graduating women, saying "today our sisters are with us in this ceremony, they are receiving their graduation diplomas and are being appointed in different jobs."


Taliban officials released images of Sirajuddin Haqqani for the first time as he made a rare public appearance in Kabul. Haqqani has long been wanted by the US over a string of terror attacks.

Source: https://www.dw.com/en/talibans-most-wanted-leader-haqqani-appears-in-public/a-61030993

---

Slowly and steadily.

War is finally over.

As every year passes more women will have education and jobs.

As every year passes more old people with outdated mindset will naturally die.

And Insha'Allah as a society, Afghanistan will prosper under peace.

Mandatory, I laugh and curse at warmongers who wanted Afghans to stay in a perpetual war.

 

[silentkiller187]

Taliban announcement a clear sign girls will be allowed to return to school

Schools for all students will open this week, Afghanistan’s Taliban-run Education Ministry has announced in the clearest sign yet that girls will be allowed back in school.

The international community has been relentless in urging Afghanistan’s Taliban rulers to allow girls to return to school.

Earlier this year, the new rulers opened up universities for women, although classes are gender segregated.

They also promised girls would be allowed to return to classes in all year groups following the Afghan new year, which was being celebrated on Monday.

The statement said classes will start on Wednesday.

The ministry statement does not refer specifically to girls but it says: “The Education Ministry assures the nation it is committed to the right to education of all its citizens.”

The statement says the ministry is also “working hard to eliminate all kinds of discrimination”, without elaborating.

It urges all Afghans to send their children to schools or madrassas, which are religious educational facilities.


It is the Taliban's hope that women will become invisible, says former U.S. ambassador
Click to expand
The Taliban rulers have not imposed restrictions on the types of courses that women attending university can take.

But music, which had previously been taught, is no longer available.

While the Taliban have not banned music and musicians have occasionally appeared on local TV, music is frowned upon by the hard-line religion-driven rulers.

When they last ruled, music was banned, girls were denied education and women were not allowed to work and were required to wear the all-encompassing burka.

The Taliban were ousted in 2001 by a US-led coalition.

After sweeping back into power last August following America’s chaotic end to 20 years of war in Afghanistan, a nervous international community watched as the Taliban sent women home from work and closed public universities in all but 10 provinces.

They allowed only boys to attend school beyond Year 8.

The Taliban have not reimposed the burka, though women are required to wear the hijab, which can be any covering including a large shawl provided the head is covered.

The Taliban rulers have also allowed women back to work in the health and education ministries and at Kabul’s international airport, where they are at passport control and customs.

They have also returned to work in the private sector and for non-government aid organisations.

Still, in other ministries women are not back on the job.

The World Food Programme will be stepping up its school meals programme and will offer cash assistance to high school girls to encourage them to stay in school.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/ukne...-to-return-to-school/ar-AAVkffD?ocid=msedgntp

 

[JaDed]

Afghanistan girls' tears over chaotic Taliban schools U-turn

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-60848649

They will always be regressive ! It’s only
school I don’t get it how people can support them!

==

Early this morning, at her home on a hilltop in the west of Kabul, 15-year-old Marzia packed her bag for school, for the first time since the Taliban took power last August.

"I became so, so happy when I heard school was restarting," she told the BBC. "It makes me hopeful about the future again."

Around 200 other girls had also made their way to the Sayed ul Shuhada school, far fewer than usual, as pupils and their families debated whether or not lessons would actually start and whether it would be safe for them to attend.

Since August, in most of Afghanistan, only girls' primary schools have remained open, along with all boys' schools.

Today as a new academic year began, girls' secondary schools were finally expected to re-open along with other institutes.

It felt a particularly poignant moment for students here. Last year more than 90 of their classmates and school staff were killed in an attack by the local affiliate of the Islamic State group.


"The first suicide bombing happened very close to me," says Sakina, as her eyes fill up with tears. "There were lots of dead people in front of me… I didn't think I would survive."

Sakina, pictured at the Sayed ul Shuhada on 23 March 2022
Image caption,
Sakina wants to rebuild her life after last year's bombing and the Taliban takeover
She pauses, overwhelmed with emotion, before continuing, "Our revenge on the people who did this, will be continuing our education. We want to succeed in our lives, so we can fulfil the dreams of our martyrs."

As they entered the classrooms, the students wiped the dust off the desks but already some of the teachers were murmuring that, unexpectedly, the school would have to shut down again.

The local Taliban education official, who had given us permission to film at the school earlier this week, forwarded the headteacher a WhatsApp message, saying girls' secondary schools would in fact remain closed until further notice.

The students reacted with shock and horror. Some began to cry. "We just want to be able to learn and serve our people," Fatima told us. "What kind of country is this? What is our sin?"

She asked, addressing the Taliban whilst visibly distraught. "You're always talking about Islam, does Islam say to harm women like this?"

It's difficult to fathom the Taliban's rationale. A Ministry of Education ceremony marking the start of the academic year went ahead despite the development.

Aziz-ur-Rahman Rayan, spokesman for the ministry, said all preparations had been made for the re-opening of schools, but that the group's central leadership had ordered them to stay closed until, "a comprehensive plan has been prepared according to Sharia and Afghan culture".

However, even before the Taliban took power, secondary schools in Afghanistan were already segregated by gender, whilst the uniform consisted of a modest black outfit and white hijab, or headscarf.

What's more, in a number of provinces local Taliban officials had already begun allowing girls' secondary schools to re-open last year, despite the lack of a central official policy.

Privately, Taliban figures admit the issue of female education is a controversial one amongst their most hardline elements.

The chaotic nature of this policy reversal, suggests the groups' central leadership decided at the last minute to overrule their own Ministry of Education, nervous about alienating their most ultra-conservative members.

The divergence of views within the Taliban at times correlates to their geographic location.

In one part of the more cosmopolitan north of the country, even under the "shadow government" the Taliban established during their insurgency, a local leader once proudly showed off still-functioning girls schools to me during a visit.

By contrast, in a rural part of the conservative, southern province of Helmand, one Taliban fighter whose views on female education I asked, replied with a smile, "if girls want to learn, their brothers can go to school and then teach them at home".

But even in the most conservative areas, the majority of ordinary Afghan families appear to now be in favour of female education.

Many have long questioned whether the Taliban have changed since they were in power in the 1990s when all women were forced to wear the all-encompassing burka and even girls' primary schools remained closed?

Nowadays, the picture is more nuanced. A recent study by the World Bank found that there had actually been a rise in female primary school attendance since the Taliban takeover as security improved. Meanwhile, the group has allowed women to attend university as long as classes are segregated.

But today's decision to keep girls' secondary schools closed, appears to underline the gulf that still exists between the Taliban leadership and contemporary Afghan society.

 

[MenInG]

About two dozen, mainly female, protesters gathered close to the Taliban's Ministry of Education on Saturday morning, calling on the group to reopen girls' secondary schools.

The Taliban have been widely condemned for issuing a last-minute U-turn earlier this week, ordering them to close, just hours after teenage pupils began to arrive for the start of the new academic year.

The protesters chanted, "Education is our right! Open the doors of girls' schools!" while armed Taliban members looked on.

One female teacher attending told the BBC: "When it comes to standing up for freedom and the girls who want to go to school, I'm willing to die.

"We are here for the rights of our daughters to get an education. Without that right, we might as well be dead already."

The Taliban has previously broken up demonstrations and detained those involved, but on this occasion the protest was allowed to continue.

Since the group took power last August, girls' primary schools in most of the country, along with all boys' schools, have remained open, but older girls have not been allowed back in the classroom.

The Taliban's Ministry of Education had said girls' secondary schools would restart on Wednesday, but the decision was overruled by the group's central leadership, who said they could remain closed until a "comprehensive" and "Islamic" plan for them had been drawn up.

The move provoked an outpouring of grief. On social media, Afghans have been sharing videos of pupils sobbing after returning home early from what they thought would be their first day back at school.

A presenter on the popular Tolo TV channel struggled to hold back his tears during a discussion on the issue.

On Friday, a joint statement by officials from 10 countries, including the US and UK, described the Taliban's decision as "profoundly disturbing".

The US State Department cancelled meetings with the group that had been scheduled to take place in Qatar.

The chaotic policy reversal by the Taliban probably reflects divisions within the group between more hardline and moderate elements.

In some provinces, particularly in northern Afghanistan, local Taliban officials have allowed teenage girls to continue to study, but others appear to oppose the idea.

Crying in frustration, one protester at Saturday's demonstration in Kabul said: "I want our generation to be free and to flourish, not just to shed tears at home."

BBC

 

[MenInG]

KABUL/WASHINGTON, March 25 (Reuters) - The United States abruptly cancelled meetings with the Taliban in Doha that were set to address key economic issues, officials said on Friday, after Afghanistan's Islamist rulers reversed a decision to allow all girls to return to high school classes.

The cancellation of talks was the first concrete sign that recent Taliban moves on human rights and inclusivity could directly impact the international community's willingness to help the group, some of whose leaders are under U.S. sanctions.

"Their decision was a deeply disappointing and inexplicable reversal of commitments to the Afghan people, first and foremost, and also to the international community," a U.S. State Department spokesperson told Reuters.

"We have cancelled some of our engagements, including planned meetings in Doha, and made clear that we see this decision as a potential turning point in our engagement."

Three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters that the series of meeting between U.S. and Taliban administration officials were set to take place on the sidelines of a conference in Qatar's capital on Saturday and Sunday.

Some of the meetings were to have included United Nations and World Bank representatives, the sources added.

An Afghan foreign ministry spokesman confirmed that a Taliban delegation, including the acting foreign minister, had been expecting to go to Doha.

The talks were designed to cover issues including the independence of the Afghan central bank and the printing of Afghani currency bank notes.

Also up for discussion were a humanitarian exchange facility to free up cash and hundreds of millions of dollars of funding currently held in a World Bank Trust Fund that is earmarked for Afghanistan's education sector, according to the three sources.

They declined to be named because they were not authorised to speak with the media.

"The Qatari jet that was meant to collect Muttaqi's delegation in Kabul has not turned up," said a diplomatic source, referring to Acting Foreign Minister Amir Khan Muttaqi.

The Qatari government's communications office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

'TRAGIC' CONSEQUENCES

The move shows the headwinds the Taliban administration faces in accessing foreign aid and freeing up the banking sector. Hard currency shortages have fuelled inflation and worsened the economic crisis.

The Taliban have also been unable to access billions of dollars in foreign reserves held overseas as governments including the United States refuse to fully recognise them.

In addition to the crippled financial system, the sharp drop in development funding that once amounted to billions of dollars and helped the Afghan government to function has exacerbated food shortages and poverty.

Roughly 23 million people are experiencing acute hunger and 95% of the population are not eating enough food, according to the United Nations.

Washington and its allies have insisted that the Taliban, who banned girls from school and most women from work the last time they ruled, improve their human rights record.

The Taliban, who fought an insurgency that toppled the Western-backed government last August, have also been accused of suppressing free speech, violently breaking up protests and exacting deadly revenge on their former foes.

The group says it will honour everyone's rights within its interpretation of Islamic law and has vowed to investigate specific allegations of abuse.

The Taliban on Wednesday backtracked on their previous commitment to open high schools to girls, saying that they would remain closed until a plan was drawn up for them to reopen.

The U-turn shocked many, leaving students in tears and sparking small protests by girls in Kabul. It also drew condemnation from humanitarian agencies and foreign governments. read more

"They are definitely shooting themselves in the foot," said Graeme Smith, a senior consultant at International Crisis Group, of the decision on girls' education.

A major donor summit for humanitarian aid is set to take place this month, co-hosted by Britain, in an effort to help raise $4.4 billion in funding the United Nations says it needs to meet urgent needs in the country.

Diplomats and aid groups fear that the war in Ukraine, combined with the Taliban's decision on girls' schooling, will make it harder to raise the money.

"The decision is understandable," John Sifton of Human Rights Watch said of the U.S. move. "The U.S. and other donors need to communicate to the Taliban that their actions are unacceptable."

"At the same time, the cancellation of this important meeting is tragic ... The Afghan economy has collapsed, and millions are facing acute malnutrition. People are dying of starvation every day."

 

[JaDed]

Taliban ‘block unaccompanied women from flights’

https://www.dawn.com/news/1682026

——

In last week they have shown why they are never going to change.

 

[sensible-indian-fan]

Taliban ‘block unaccompanied women from flights’

https://www.dawn.com/news/1682026

——

In last week they have shown why they are never going to change.

A moment of silence for the poor gullible posters who believed Taliban

 

[JaDed]

A moment of silence for the poor gullible posters who believed Taliban

Unfortunate for Afghan women again, probably Khalid Hosseini will write another novel on the same but Taliban will remain in control.