Women Banned from Raising Their Voices in Afghanistan under the Taliban
Noriko Watanabe and Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
In March, the United Nations (UN) said categorically that women suffering from domestic violence in Afghanistan are now being put in prison. In neighboring Iran, young ladies (and others) have been killed by the “morality police” over the draconian dress code.
Now, the Taliban announced that women are to be banned from raising their voices in Afghanistan – or reading or singing loudly in public.
It should be noted that while the Taliban is condemned – and rightly so – apostates from Islam to Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, and other faiths, in Iran to Somalia face prison or worse. Also, non-Muslim males (from Mauritania to Saudi Arabia to Iran) are forbidden from marrying Muslim females in Sharia nations.
France 24 reports, “Among the rules in the 114-page text published by the ministry is the requirement for women to cover their bodies and faces completely if they leave the house as well as a ban on women making their voices heard in public.”
The new law stipulates, “Whenever an adult woman leaves her home out of necessity, she is obliged to conceal her voice, face, and body.”
The Guardian reports, “In the three years since seizing power from the US-backed government, the Taliban have imposed what human rights groups are calling a “gender apartheid”, excluding women and girls from almost every aspect of public life and denying them access to the justice system.”
Roza Otunbayeva (Head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan) condemned the new edicts of the Taliban that put women further into the shadows of society.
Otunbayeva said, “After decades of war and in the midst of a terrible humanitarian crisis, the Afghan people deserve much better than being threatened or jailed if they happen to be late for prayers, glance at a member of the opposite sex who is not a family member, or possess a photo of a loved one.”
In Yemen, very young girls are married to older men. Likewise, in Pakistan, non-Muslim Christian, Hindu, and Sikh young girls are forcibly converted to Islam and forced to marry older male Muslims (the UN condemned Pakistan last year over forced marriages). Therefore, the crisis in Afghanistan is a grim reminder of the persecution of women at the hands of Islamists or the structures of Sharia Islamic law in many nations (or parts of the world under Islamic insurgents).
The Taliban is intent on governing by the purest versions of Islamic Sharia law – similar to ISIS (Islamic State – IS).
Iran also employs the so-called morality police (young girls have been killed for not covering up).
The Taliban is focused on stemming narcotics (heroin floods Europe from this country) and controlling the border area. Iran and Pakistan have deported vast numbers of Afghans back to Afghanistan. Therefore, from a security perspective, the Taliban internally is focused on stability and spreading its version of Islamic Sharia law (including the silencing of women) – while seeking to expand trade with other nations.
The United Nations isn’t in a position to dictate to the Taliban – given the recent history of this nation.
Women and young girls face a bleak future in Afghanistan.
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