Commentary by Raihana Rasoly on the human and especially women rights abuses in Afghanistan and the silence of the world community
It is so difficult to write about people who live in part of the worldin which life is so brutal that even feature films are too painful to watch, but are still exceeded by reality.
Afghanistan is a country with a unique civilization, a variety of people with different ethnic groups under a single flag. This country has fallen into the hands of people, who themselves do not know what they believe in and what religion they belong to. This group instrumentalized regulates in relation to religion and women and does not shy away from cruel and violent actions to enforce their power and commit crimes to achieve their political goals.
For women, studying after the sixth grade, the right to work, walking in parks and restaurants, and other political, social, civic, and cultural activities were declared religiously forbidden. Some women and men were arrested and flogged on the pretext that it was immoral for them to be together in public. They arbitrarily interpret Sharia law and punish others, while videos circulate on social media of some Taliban dancing on the graves of their political leaders or in mosques.
They narrowed the field for the elite and educated so much that they could not bear to continue to live under the domination of this group. Afghan women and girls, who make up half of Afghan society, have been marginalized and deprived of their basic right to education. A large part of this society is afraid that these Afghan Amazons may in the future raise educated children who question their ideology. These women are suing and protesting civilly and peacefully to restore their rights.
The Taliban regime arrests, humiliates, imprisons and tortures women in particular, so that no one dares to oppose them. But I believe that women will increasingly rebel and protest in the streets instead of remaining silent until their rights are restored.
For many Afghans, polygamy, forced marriages and underage marriages are both religiously and culturally frowned upon (haram). After taking over government in Afghanistan, the commanders of the Taliban group, allowed themselves polygamous marriages with little girls. In a country with a wide range of pauperized sections of the population, they did not shy away from exorbitant costs to accommodate their child brides in luxurious houses. More than 30 million people have been taken hostage in Afghanistan and are being so terrorized that reprisals have forced them into silence.
It is very difficult to write about the poverty that is rampant in this country. Poverty that even forced families to sell their children. Women wear men’s clothes to search for food in the garbage. A mother offered one of her children for sale in front of the siblings. If the children are too hungry, they get medicine to help them sleep.
A father who couldn’t bear to see his child starve to death considered ending his life. People feel compelled to do or consider doing things that are completely alien to their nature.
But the world, especially the countries that always said they were friends of Afghanistan, at this point have forgotten the base of the Afghan people and ignore the crimes of the Taliban and still think about their interests in that country.
Afghan women fighters know that if the world forgets you today, history will not forget your struggle for justice.
