Protestors in Afghanistan - Open Schools

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.  READ MORE...

Women Who Refuse to be Silenced

It was just a snowman. But as winter descended on a starving Afghan population, the heavy snow brought joy to a small corner of Kabul.

A group of young women had stopped next to the snowman to take selfies. As they giggled and looked at their phones, they could have been anywhere.

Then three Taliban fighters spotted them. They came closer - the women fled. With a smile, one stepped towards the snowman - which perhaps he thought was un-Islamic. He tore off the stick arms, carefully removed the stone eyes, the nose too. Finally, a swift beheading.

I had just arrived back in Kabul after 10 years away and had already been lectured by a member of the Taliban about my lack of understanding of Afghan culture. He claimed to know what was best for Afghan women. "Blue-eyed devils" (Westerners) had corrupted the country, he appeared to suggest.

Rather than take his word for it, I wanted to hear from women themselves. Many are in hiding, all fear for their future and some for their lives. There are still women on the streets of Kabul, some still in Western clothes and headscarves, but their freedom is under attack - the freedom to work, study, move freely and to lead independent lives.

I met women who had been forced into the shadows of a new Afghanistan, who took great risks to express their views freely. They could only do so anonymously - except for Fatima, who uinsisted on showing her face.

The Taliban have stolen Fatima’s future twice. The last time they ruled Afghanistan, she was forced into marriage at the age of 14 and her education came to an abrupt end.

This time around, the 44-year-old midwife may still have a job, but like many women I spoke to, every-day life has diminished.

Fatima’s education and employment were hard won. After getting married, she didn’t resume her studies until she was 32. By then, the Taliban had long gone from power. But it still wasn’t easy - even under the new democratic Afghan republic.

She says she did a number of fast-track courses within a short space of time - but there were times when she wasn’t allowed to study. “They would take one look at my ID card and say, ‘You are too old to sit in classes with other students.’”

She finally completed her degree two years ago - but again she faced another hurdle.

“It was hard enough for a girl to get educated in Afghanistan, imagine how difficult it was for an old married wife to get hired.” But Fatima succeeded and has since delivered thousands of babies.

“I wanted to work in an area where I would be able to train women,” she says. “When a woman is educated, she raises healthy and fruitful children. By doing so, she can present a meaningful child to society - one that will bring about change.”

Fatima appears to accept that Taliban control is likely to be permanent, but hopes this time around, they can govern differently.  READ MORE...

Afghan Women

When the Taliban swept into Kabul on 15 August the only shots they fired were in celebration. For Afghan women, the salvos represented the loss of all their rights and freedoms. Five of them have been sending the BBC daily diaries, which provide a portrait of their rapidly changing lives.

15 August - 'Day of Judgement'


There's a scene in The Handmaid's Tale, the TV series based on Margaret Attwood's dystopian novel, where the main character, book editor June Osborne, arrives at her office one morning only to learn that the country's new leaders have banned women from the workplace.


Her boss gathers all the female staff and tells them to pack up their belongings and go home.


On 15 August 2021, Maari, a former soldier in the Afghan Army, has an almost identical experience. At 07:30, she leaves for work in a government ministry, expecting a busy day of meetings and conferences. Stepping outside, she immediately notices that the streets are eerily quiet, but she continues on her way, getting out her phone to check her calendar for meetings.


"You've come to work!" say astonished male colleagues when she walks in.


"I don't think Kabul is going to fall," she replies.


But she has barely put down her bag when her boss confronts her. "Go and tell all the women to go home," he says. She does as she's told, going from room to room telling female employees to leave right away. But when her boss asks her to go home, she refuses.


"As long as my male colleagues are staying and working, I am too," she says.


Maari's not just any member of staff. She's a high-ranking official with an impressive military record, and her boss reluctantly accepts what she says.


But as the day goes by, reports of the Taliban entering Kabul become impossible to ignore. Maari's boss decides to shut the ministry's doors and send everyone home.


Elsewhere in the city, Khatera, a geography teacher, is starting a new lesson - her 40 students, all teenage boys, flick through their books to find the right page.  READ MORE...

Shria Law

The Taliban say they will rule Afghanistan according to Sharia, or Islamic law. The militant Islamist group have taken control after the departure of US and allied forces from the country.

What have the Taliban said?
In the first press briefing after taking power, a Taliban spokesman said issues such as the media and women's rights would be respected "within the framework of Islamic law", but the group has not yet provided any details of what that will mean in practice.

The Taliban have been known for their strict interpretation of Sharia, including punishments such as public executions of convicted murderers and adulterers.

Who are the Taliban?
Taliban: Women to have rights within Islamic law
Uncertain times ahead for Afghan women

What is Sharia?
Sharia is Islam's legal system.  It is derived from the Quran, Islam's holy book, as well as the Sunnah and Hadith - the deeds and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad.

Where an answer cannot be derived directly from these, religious scholars may give rulings as guidance on a particular topic or question.  In Arabic, Sharia literally means "the clear, well-trodden path to water".

Sharia acts as a code for living that all Muslims should adhere to, including prayers, fasting and donations to the poor.  It aims to help Muslims understand how they should lead every aspect of their lives according to God's wishes.  READ MORE ABOUT SHARIA LAW

Afghanistan

How Obama freed key Taliban leader in 2014 in prisoner swap despite pentagon warnings only for him to spearhead steaming take-over of Kabul

• Former president released five Taliban commanders from Guantanamo in 2014
• He promised US public Taliban Five would be stopped from harming Afghanistan
• But one of them ended up brokering terms of US troop withdrawal this year
• Khairullah Khairkhwa was sent to Qatar after detention camp but formed regime
• He promised Biden's Afghanistan envoy that Taliban wouldn't launch offensive
• But the warlords are now trying to track down Afghans who sided with allies
• US soldier they were exchanged for has since been dishonourably discharged

By ISABELLA NIKOLIC FOR MAILONLINE

PUBLISHED: 10:36 EDT, 17 August 2021 | UPDATED: 18:43 EDT, 17 August 2021

USA Fails in Afghanistan

President Joe Biden blames his actions on the deal that was negotiated by former President Donald Trump with the TALIBAN in Afghanistan...

President Joe Biden did not take responsibility for how the US withdrawal in Afghanistan unfolded which is the problem that the rest of the world has with the USA...

President Joe Biden SCREWED UP or listened to his advisors who were deadly wrong...  in either case, Biden made the final decision...

Also, since President Joe Biden has been president he has OVERTURNED several programs that President Donald Trump put into place...  so, why could he overturn the deal in Afghanistan???

MORE IMPORTANTLY...  

what does the rest of the world think about our decision and how we left Afghanistan?

what does our allies think about how we handled our exiting in Afghanistan?

will our allies support us next time?

what does our enemies think about how we handled leaving Afghanistan?

• China
• Russia
• North Korea
• Iran

DOES AMERICA REALLY WANT TO REMAIN BEING A GLOBAL LEADER?