Twenty Afghan women chanted “bread, work, freedom” in Kabul on Sunday. The AFP reports that they are fighting against Taliban restrictions on women’s freedom in Afghanistan.
Since they returned to power last August, fundamentalist Islamists have been gradually eroding the freedom that women have won over the past 20 years since the fall of their previous regime (1996-2001).
“Education is my right! Reopen the schools! ”Chanted protesters, many of whom hid their faces and gathered in front of the Ministry of Education.
Detained by the Taliban
An AFP correspondent reported that the Taliban, who had come to disperse the protesters, had walked a few hundred meters before being stopped in civilian clothes.
“We wanted to read a statement, but the Taliban did not allow it,” participant Zolia Parsi told AFP after the march. “They took the cell phones of some of the girls and prevented us from taking pictures or videos of our struggle,” he added.
The rope tightened further
Since the Taliban returned to power, they have imposed a series of restrictions on civil society, many of which are aimed at subjugating women to their fundamentalist views on Islam.
They often exclude women from public employment, restrict their right to travel, and ban girls from college and high schools.
Return the entire veil
The latest restriction comes in early May, when the government issued a decree approved by the Taliban and Afghanistan’s top leader Hibatullah Akundzada, which made it mandatory for women to wear the full face in public.