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Interviewed by France 24, Habiba Sarabi, former Afghan Minister for Women’s Affairs, takes a crude balance of the situation in Afghanistan, one year after the Taliban group took control of the country in August 2021.
Habiba Sarabi, former Minister of Women’s Affairs in Afghanistan from 2002 to 2004 and the first Afghan woman to govern a province (Bamiyan), speaks to France 24 about the reality of her country, one year after the return to power of the Taliban on August 15, 2021.
Winner of the Simone Veil Prize of the French Republic in 2021, Sarabi had participated in the peace negotiations between Kabul and the Taliban in Doha, organized from 2020. This leader makes a devastating assessment, especially for women.
Excluded from public life by numerous restrictions on work, movement and clothing, Afghan women are the first victims of the new regime. The Taliban’s “stifling repression” is “destroying the lives of women and girls,” the NGO Amnesty International wrote in its latest report published at the end of July.
France 24: What is the current situation in Afghanistan, one year after the fall of Kabul?
Habiba Sarabi: The Taliban did not come to power, they took it by force. They are not bureaucrats, therefore they are a dictatorial power. They are people who rule by force to force the population to obey them. For a year now, the Afghans, in addition to suffering from poverty and hunger, have suffered in their daily lives from the lack of social services, education and health systems. And when people, men and women alike, dare to rebel and resist or make their voices heard – especially on social networks, since there is no longer freedom of expression – they are detained, tortured or otherwise punished for the taliban
Not surprisingly, Afghan women appear to be the first victims of the current regime…
In the last twenty years we had achieved many things. Many girls were able to go to school, to the point of representing up to 40% of school enrolments. It had even improved women’s access to higher education. Several Afghan women were able to enter the civil service and others were elected to parliament or appointed as ministers. In short, they were present in almost all sectors. Unfortunately, after taking power, the Taliban decided to exclude women as soon as possible from all walks of life, from the world of work and even from access to education. The mobilization of Afghan women forced them to allow girls to go to school, but only up to sixth grade. Despite international pressure and the demonstration of Afghan women inside and outside the country, the Taliban refuse to go further. They don’t care about women’s voices, they refuse to listen to them. That is why we ask the international community and Muslim countries to put pressure on the Taliban to agree not only to reopen the doors of education to Afghan women, but also to restore the most basic human rights to end the discrimination that complicates life. Women’s.
Nearly half of the Afghan population is under the age of 15, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency. How do you see the future of these young people and women?
The new generation, the youth and women as a whole, are the wealth of Afghanistan. If with the return of the Taliban to power, which is a setback for the whole society, the country cannot take advantage of these riches to develop, especially economically, then it will collapse. Afghans are human beings, they are part of the international community and they deserve a better life. We have been suffering wars and conflicts for more than forty years and every day is a bloodbath. The international community, mainly the United States and NATO, made a mistake in Afghanistan. They withdrew without any plan and handed everything over to the Taliban. Now they have to fix it. The international community must take responsibility for the Afghan people and Afghan women in particular. I remain very confident and proud of one thing: Afghan women are very brave, and after having access to education in the last two decades and becoming aware of their rights, I am sure that they will continue to fight to improve their lives. and those of their children.
Article adapted from its original in French
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