Four years of restrictions on women in Afghanistan: The return of the Taliban and gender apartheid

KABUL: Taliban entered Kabul, on August 15, 2021, without resistance and seized power after fall of Republic. Just hours before their arrival, former President Ashraf Ghani fled the capital, leaving the country engulfed in anxiety and disbelief. Women, who had gained access to education, work, and relative freedoms over the past two decades, became first targets of new restrictions. Abdul Hakim Haqqani, the head of the Taliban Supreme Court, laid the basis for new regulations from Ministry of Vice and Virtue, which prohibited women from talking with men, traveling without a male guardian, receiving non-religious education, and engaging in many social and professional activities. One month after the Taliban’s takeover, schools were reopened only for boys. In March 2022, schools for girls above sixth grade were closed, and later, women’s education in universities and private institutions was also banned. According to UNICEF, over two million girls are currently deprived of education. Women, who comprised about one-fourth of government employees before the regime’s collapse, were expelled from their positions. Their work in NGOs, international organizations, and subsequently in private sector was also prohibited. These policies have inflicted nearly one billion dollars of harm on the country’s economy. They imposed extensive restrictions on women’s daily lives, including bans on driving, entering parks and gyms, and removal of women’s images from public spaces. Women’s protests, characterized by slogans “Bread, Work, Freedom,” were met with violence, arrests, and torture and activists sought refuge abroad, but within country, severe repression silenced dissenting voices. Today, Afghanistan stands as the only country to officially implement “gender apartheid,” a situation that experts believe is primary obstacle to international recognition of Taliban.