The Taliban’s repression of women’s rights is even more evident for those of a different ethnic background. Hundreds of thousands of ethnic Turkmen live in Afghanistan’s northern regions, and no one is involved in defending their rights, not least because of the icy relations with Ashgabat.
Ashgabat () – The condition of women in Afghanistan has become particularly critical since the return of the Taliban, and according to UNESCO, 1.4 million girls have lost the opportunity to receive a school education since 2021. In fact, August 15 marked three years since the flight of the Americans after 20 years of government following the attack on the Twin Towers in New York, leaving the country in the hands of the radical Islamic government and creating one of the most impressive humanitarian crises in the world.
Women have been completely excluded from social life, not allowed to study or work, not allowed to visit public parks or sports facilities, and forced to move around in clothes that cover every part of their body and face. If a woman wants to go to the store or the market, she can only do so accompanied by her father or one of her brothers. The repression of women is even more evident for those of other ethnic origins, especially Turkmen women, as 26-year-old Djemal, a resident of the city of Mazar-i-Sharif in Balkh province, tells Radio Azatlyk.
“Without the Taliban, I would be a doctor with two years of work experience, whereas now I am forced to stay locked up in my house as if I were in prison,” she says. For the first year, the Taliban had allowed her to study, allowing her to complete her medical studies in her hometown, but then the government refused to give her the diploma. “With other colleagues, we have made numerous requests, but we don’t even know who to turn to, because women are ignored everywhere, as second-class beings, and if we are not even ethnic Afghans, then we are down to the third level and even lower.”
Djemal knows at least 13 other Turkmen girls who have completed their studies in various fields, but are unable to obtain a diploma or be hired for any job. Only in some cases do the Taliban grant permission, and female doctors can only work in women’s clinics, but Turkmen women are also excluded from this opportunity because “they do not have a diploma.” “In the future we see only great darkness,” says Djemal, “we live with our faces covered, not only because of the obligatory clothing.”
According to her testimony, many single mothers and daughters live in Afghanistan today, and are forced to wait for their husbands or sons to arrive once a week before they can peek in the doorway. If they go out alone, the Taliban arrest them and whip them. Hundreds of thousands of Turkmen live in the northern regions of Afghanistan, and no one cares about defending their rights, both because of internal repression and the decidedly icy relations between Ashgabat and Kabul.
Prices for food and basic necessities in the Turkmen-inhabited areas are much higher than in the rest of the country, and to survive one has to work very hard, which is made even more difficult by the segregation of women. The first Taliban government had excluded virtually all other nationalities, but now there is a glimmer of hope for the Turkmen as well, but so far this has not led to any real improvement in the situation.
Some Turkmen and representatives of different ethnic groups participate in local administrations and other state bodies, but without guarantees of continuity and real effectiveness, given that to date the government in Kabul is not internationally recognised. At least partial recognition of women’s rights, such as access to education, together with respect for ethnic minorities, could make the Taliban system more acceptable to the entire world community, and especially to the countries of Central Asia.
Photo: Flickr / Global Panorama
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