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The Taliban, which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is an Afghan political and militant movement with an ideology comprising elements of Pashtun nationalism and the Deobandi movement of Islamic fundamentalism. It ruled approximately 75% of Afghanistan from 1996 to 2001, before it was overthrown by an American invasion after the September 11th attacks carried out by the Taliban's ally al-Qaeda. The Taliban recaptured Kabul in August 2021 following the departure of coalition forces, after 20 years of Taliban insurgency, and now controls the entire country. The Taliban government is not recognized by any country and has been internationally condemned for restricting human rights, including women's rights to work and have an education.
The treatment of women by the Taliban includes the actions and policies by two distinct Taliban regimes in Afghanistan which are either specific or highly commented upon, mostly due to discrimination, since they first took control in 1996. During their first rule of Afghanistan, the Taliban were notorious internationally for their misogyny and violence against women. In 1996, women were mandated to wear the burqa at all times in public. In a systematic segregation sometimes referred to as gender apartheid, women were not allowed to work, nor were they allowed to be educated after the age of eight. Women seeking an education were forced to attend underground schools, where they and their teachers risked execution if caught. They were not allowed to be treated by male doctors unless accompanied by a male chaperone, which led to illnesses remaining untreated. They faced public flogging and execution for violations of the Taliban's laws.
The 1998 Mazar-i-Sharif massacre took place in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan in 1998. At least 2,000 victims were murdered by the Taliban, with Human Rights Watch estimating that the actual number of victims may be much higher.
The Afghan Times is an independent and online news outlet founded in August 2022. Operated primarily by Afghan women journalists, the publication focuses on human rights and women's issues. The outlet provides content in Pashto, Dari and English.
Zakia Zaki was an Afghan journalist for the Afghan Radio Peace (Sada-i-Sulh) station north of Kabul, Afghanistan. She had been given threats on account of her work and was killed at her home outside of Kabul in April 2007. Zaki was the first Afghani journalist to speak out against the Taliban after the US forces initiated the War in Afghanistan (2001–present), while she also championed other causes like gender equality and women's rights in Afghanistan. Her murder was seen as part of a series of recent attacks against high-profile Afghan women.
The mass media in Afghanistan is monitored by the Ministry of Information and Culture (MoIC), and includes broadcasting, digital and printing. It is mainly in Dari and Pashto, the official languages of the nation. It was reported in 2019 that Afghanistan had over 107 TV stations and 284 radio stations, including 100s of print media and over 1,800 online media outlets. After the return of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (IEA) in 2021, there was a concern that the mass media will significantly decrease in the country. The number of digital media outlets is steadily increasing with the help of Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube, and other such online platforms. IEA's spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid suggested that the media should be in line with Sharia and national interests.
Shukria Barakzai is an Afghan politician, journalist and Muslim feminist. She was the ambassador of Afghanistan to Norway. She is a recipient of the International Editor of the Year Award.
Muhammad Rasul was the leader of the High Council of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, a Taliban dissident group in Afghanistan, until the group's dissolution in 2021. He was a Taliban-appointed governor of Nimruz Province, Afghanistan. Rasul exerted pressure and suppression on Pashtun factions unpopular with the Taliban, and made a considerable fortune controlling cross-border drug-smuggling through Nimruz.
Jamila Mujahed is a journalist of Afghanistan.
Tolo News, stylized TOLOnews, is an Afghan news channel and website broadcasting from Kabul. Owned by the Moby Media Group, it was launched in August 2010 as Afghanistan's first twenty-four hour news channel.
Rabia Nasimi is a former refugee who fled Afghanistan with her parents and siblings in 1999 and now campaigns for refugee rights in London.
Roya Rahmani is an Afghan diplomat who served as Afghanistan's first female ambassador to the United States and non-resident ambassador to Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, and the Dominican Republic from December 2018 to July 2021. She is currently the Chair of the international advisory company in development finance — Delphos International LTD. She is also a distinguished fellow at the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security, a senior advisor at the Atlantic Council's South Asia Center, and a senior fellow for international security at the New America Foundation. From 2016 to 2018, she served as Afghanistan's first female ambassador to Indonesia, first ever ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and non-resident ambassador to Singapore.
Somaya Faruqi is an Afghan student and engineer, and the captain of the Afghan Girls Robotics Team, also known as the "Afghan Dreamers." She was named to the BBC's 100 Women in 2020 and was featured by UNICEF in 2020 as well as the UN Women Generation Equality campaign in 2021. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, her team designed a prototype ventilator to help fight the coronavirus in Afghanistan.
Rangina Hamidi is an Afghan-American writer, educator, social activist, and politician. She is well known as an advocate for women's rights in Afghanistan and has engaged in various social projects to empower girls and women in Afghanistan. Hamidi has served as an education minister of Afghanistan, until the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan with the fall of Kabul in 2021. She was the first female education minister of Afghanistan. During the Afghanistan being taken over by the Taliban, she vowed to stay in Afghanistan and continue her humanitarian efforts by actively involving in empowerment of Afghan women. However, after several weeks, she fled with her family to Arizona.
Protests in Afghanistan held by Islamic democrats and feminists against the treatment of women by the Taliban began on 17 August 2021, following the fall of Kabul. Supported by the National Resistance Front of Afghanistan, the protesters also demanded decentralization, multiculturalism, social justice, labor, education, and food. Pro-Taliban counterprotests also took place.
The Taliban has ruled Afghanistan as the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan since taking control by force in 2021, overthrowing the internationally recognized Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The takeover was widely criticized by the international community, and no countries have extended de jure diplomatic recognition to the new regime, despite nominally maintaining relations with Afghanistan. The Taliban has campaigned for international recognition since the takeover. Several countries have vowed never to recognize the Islamic Emirate, and others have said they will do so only if human rights in the country are respected. Some countries have accredited Taliban diplomats at the chargé d'affaires level despite not recognizing the Islamic Emirate. In September 2023, the People's Republic of China became the first country to formally name a new ambassador to the country since the takeover, and in January 2024 recognized the Taliban's envoy to China; however, the PRC still does not formally recognize the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. The United Arab Emirates also accepted a Taliban appointed diplomat as Afghanistan's new ambassador in August 2024.
MahboubaSeraj is an Afghan journalist and women's right activist.
Zahra Joya is an ethnic Hazara journalist from Afghanistan. She is the founder of Rukhshana Media, an outlet in Persian and English which she runs from exile.
Pashtana Durrani is an Afghan feminist, activist, and educator. She is the founder of LEARN Afghanistan, the country’s first digital school network, dedicated to providing education to Afghan children and women, particularly focusing on girls’ education and women’s rights.
Maryam Rayed is an Afghan advocate for human rights, known for her contributions to peace, freedom, and equality, with a focus on the empowerment of women and youth in Afghanistan. Rayed's advocacy is grounded in her experiences growing up during the Taliban's first rule in Afghanistan, which has informed her commitment to gender-inclusive discussions on peace and security.
References
- 1 2 "Female Afghan journalists continue their fight from abroad". Nikkei Asia. Retrieved 2024-07-01.
- ↑ "Afghan female journalists in exile and founders of 'The Afghan Times' talk career and challenges". www.aipsmedia.com. Retrieved 2024-07-01.
- ↑ TG24, Sky (2024-06-20). "Come continua la lotta delle donne afghane: la storia di Salma". tg24.sky.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2024-07-01.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ↑ "Being a woman under Taliban rule is like being 'sentenced to death in slow motion'". ABC News. 2023-03-08. Retrieved 2024-07-01.
- ↑ "Saeedullah Safi: Three years ago Afghanistan fell to the Taliban and we had to flee the country we loved". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2024-10-12.
- ↑ "Waiting for darkness to use the toilet: What life is like for women in flood-affected Afghanistan". ABC News. 2024-05-28. Retrieved 2024-07-01.
- ↑ Asia/Pacific, I. U. F. (2023-05-29). "The current situation of women workers in Afghanistan – a report by The Afghan Times for IUF Asia/Pacific". IUF Asia-Pacific. Retrieved 2024-07-01.
- ↑ "The Taliban will go to any lengths to silence Afghan women — but we will have our voices heard". ABC Religion & Ethics. 2024-09-12. Retrieved 2024-10-12.
- ↑ "Zeta - The Afghan Times, the media that gives women a voice against the Taliban". Zeta (in Italian). 2025-01-07. Retrieved 2025-01-20.