Upon retaking Kabul, the Taliban announced moderate policies towards women and journalists, for example. In practice, women’s rights and freedom of the press were muzzled, among other broken promises. The Taliban regained control of Afghanistan on August 15, 2021, hours after the last US troops withdrew from the country and the then democratically elected government. fell apart.
Back in power, the Islamists promised a softer version of the hardline regime that characterized their first command of Afghanistan, from 1996 to 2001.
But the Taliban’s promise has not been kept, particularly when it comes to women’s rights. Many restrictions on Afghan women’s freedom were reimposed by the group.
Below, check out some of the allegations made by the Taliban, and what came to fruition a year later.
Women’s rights will be respected under Islamic law
Claim: “Women will be very active in society, but within the rules of Islam,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said at their first press conference in August 2021. Under these norms, they would be allowed to work and studying.
DW Fact Check: False.
When the Taliban returned to power, many feared a regime as harsh on Afghan women as it was in the 1990s. A year later, the Taliban implemented many restrictions on women’s lives.
They must cover themselves from head to toe in public. If a woman does not cover her face outside the home, her father or closest male relative can be arrested or removed from public office. Women cannot board planes without a man, who must be her husband or a close male relative.
Entrance to public parks in Afghanistan is limited by gender. Three days are reserved for women and four for men. However, according to a decree, it is strongly recommended that women leave the house only when necessary.
The Taliban allege security concerns when making such decisions. Scholars claim that these restrictions are not covered by Islamic law. Sayed Abdul Hadi Hedayat, a theologian based in Afghanistan, opposes the way the Taliban imposes rules on Afghan women regarding the covering of their bodies.
“There is a consensus among clerics and Muslim countries about the hijab itself, but there are different opinions about the type of hijab for women,” Hedayat told DW. He explains that, according to Islam, the face, hands and feet are not part of the areas that must be covered.
The Taliban has also restricted the role of women in certain sectors, as described in an Amnesty International report. “Most government employees have been instructed to stay at home, with the exception of those working in certain areas such as health and education,” the report says. “The Taliban’s policy seems to be that they will only allow women who cannot be replaced by men to continue working.”
Many women in senior positions, even in the private sector, have been laid off.
This policy also runs counter to the basic understanding of Islam. “Islam has treated women equally, particularly in the field of education,” says Farid Younos, a retired professor of Middle Eastern studies and Islamic philosophy at California State University in the US. According to him, throughout history women have played an important role in education, like the wife and daughter of the Prophet Muhammad.
Both Hedayat and Younos claim that, according to Islamic teachings, education is mandatory for both men and women. “Islamic sharia is not against women’s education and work, because we will not have a functioning and prosperous society without the role of women,” says Hedayat.
Women who protested the Taliban’s restrictions and policies were harassed, threatened, imprisoned and even tortured, Amnesty International said.
Girls will be able to attend high school
Claim: “The Ministry of Education is working hard to provide high school girls with education as quickly as possible,” Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said on September 21 last year.
DW Fact Check: False.
The Taliban allowed younger girls to go to school in classes secreted from boys, but high school students were deprived of education.
In March, the Ministry of Education announced that schools would be open to all students, including girls. However, a day later, when the girls were returning to school for the first time, the ministry reversed the permission, requiring them to leave the school.
The ministry blamed a lack of teachers and problems with school uniforms, and said it would open schools to girls once a plan was drawn up in accordance with “Islamic law and Afghan culture”. Since then, however, nothing has changed.
General amnesty for former enemies
Claim: On August 17, 2021, Mujahid said: “I would like to assure all compatriots – whether they are translators, engaged in military or civilian activities – that they all mattered. No one will suffer revenge.” He further stated: “Thousands of soldiers who fought the Taliban for 20 years, after the occupation, they were all forgiven.”
DW Fact Check: False.
Amnesty International says that after an “initial wave of reprisal killings […] unleashed during the Taliban takeover” and a “door-to-door hunt” for alleged “collaborators” in the days when the Taliban took power in Kabul, it appears that the Islamists have not carried out the dreaded campaign of revenge against their former enemies. .
However, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (Unama) has recorded at least 160 extrajudicial executions, 178 arbitrary arrests, 23 incommunicado detentions and 56 cases of torture of former government and security officials committed by the Taliban authorities between 15 August 2021 and 15 June 2022. UNAMA’s report on human rights in Afghanistan concludes that the amnesty has been violated on several occasions.
These figures do not include dozens of extrajudicial executions, ill-treatment and arbitrary arrests of alleged members of the “Islamic State – Khorasan Province” and the National Front of Resistance of Afghanistan (NRF). The NRF defended the Panjshir Valley against Taliban forces until September last year and is still trying to regain control of the region.
In June, Amnesty International denounced “the use of torture, extrajudicial executions and arbitrary detention of civilians”. [acusados de serem membros da NRF] by the Taliban in Panjshir Province”. Zaman Sultani, an Amnesty researcher specializing in South Asia, described this practice as “a growing pattern”.
No threat or retaliation against journalists
Allegation: The Taliban promised Reporters Without Borders (RSF) that there would be no threats or reprisals against journalists. They declared their commitment to impartial media and freedom of the press – as long as these do not interfere with the Taliban’s “cultural structure”.
DW Fact Check: False.
Just days after seizing power in Kabul, the Taliban killed a family member of a DW journalist while hunting the reporter. In September 2021, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) reported that Fahim Dashti, head of the National Union of Afghan Journalists (Anju, in English), was killed in a clash between Taliban and NRF fighters.
Human rights organizations say they have no concrete evidence that journalists were killed by the group. However, there is little doubt that press freedom has deteriorated since the Taliban regained power.
As of July 2021, Afghan newsrooms have more than 10,000 employees. In December, there were just over 4,000 left, according to an RSF report.
A survey by Anju and the IFJ found that 318 national media outlets had closed since the Taliban regained power.
In January, a Taliban spokesperson told DW that the regime did not force any vehicles to close, but that some had ceased operations as they ran out of funding. In the same interview, he admitted that media coverage in Afghanistan had to follow rules that could be perceived by Western countries as too restrictive.
In March, the Taliban blocked the broadcast of several international media in Afghanistan, including the BBC, Voice of America and DW. A month later, at least a dozen journalists were arrested in Afghanistan, prompting the UN to ask the Taliban to stop arbitrary detentions of journalists.
According to the survey by the journalists’ union, lack of access to information, self-censorship, fear of reprisals and the economic crisis were the main drivers of an “unprecedented collapse of the Afghan media”.
While a third of respondents said they did not trust local and national media, nearly nine in ten said they trusted international media.
End of illegal drugs
Allegation: After the Taliban took power, spokesperson Mujahid said, “We are assuring our fellow countrymen and the international community that we will not produce any more narcotics.” He reminded the world that the Taliban had stopped producing poppy-based drugs in 2000, and asked for international help to provide alternative crops.
DW Fact Check: Not proven.
For decades, Afghanistan has been the world’s largest producer and exporter of heroin and opium. In 2020, the country supplied about 85% of all non-pharmaceutical opioids in the world, according to a survey by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
This year, the Taliban banned poppy cultivation and harvesting, threatening to arrest farmers and burn their fields. Mullah Abdul Haq Akhund, deputy interior minister for counter narcotics, told AP news agency that the Taliban was working with other governments and NGOs to find alternative crops to generate income for farmers.
So far, the Taliban appear to be delivering on that promise and, as Mujahid stated, they have a positive track record. According to a World Bank study, in 2004 poppy production in Afghanistan plummeted to almost zero after the Taliban banned cultivation in 2000. Cultivation picked up again after the US toppled the regime in late 2001.
However, experts question how effective and sustainable the effort to eradicate opiate production is this time around, despite the fact that success in this area could have a positive impact on foreign affairs.
After all, drug trafficking is a vital part of the country’s economy, generating revenues of between US$1.8 billion and US$2.7 billion in 2021. The total value of opiates represented 9% to 14% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). ) from the country.
Due to other global challenges and substantial human rights issues, foreign aid may fall short of the Taliban’s expectations and the country’s financial needs to deal with the economic disadvantage of ending drug production, says analyst Shehryar Fazli.
“As in the past, cracking down on the opium trade could provide the Taliban’s armed rivals with the same opportunity to exploit rural discontent that eradication efforts under the republic gave the Taliban insurgency.”
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