Daily Times

In their short time in government, the Taliban has taken every constitutional measure to push women out of public spaces and inside their homes. Despite a chorus of international condemnation, the Taliban has remained relentless in its war against women. Initial promises of leniency and a gender-inclusive interpretation of Sharia went down the drain weeks after the Taliban seized control of Kabul. In addition to mandating the burqa in public, women have been barred from secondary and high school education, kicked out of their jobs in the public and private sectors and banned from leaving their homes unless accompanied by a male guardian. Afghanistan’s escalating humanitarian crisis has only aggravated these abuses.

Following the Taliban’s takeover, the country lost millions of dollars in aid from former donor countries that have since refused to engage with the militant-turned-government, triggering a liquidity crisis that has only enabled the Taliban to tighten its grip on the country’s women. The financial crisis has especially affected women, who were the sole breadwinners for their families and now find that there is no space for them to work. According to Kabul’s hardline government, cleaning female bathrooms is the only job women are fit for. The Taliban enforces its rules through intimidation and constant surveillance, a task that has been handed to the regime’s morality police that replaced the women’s ministry a little over a month after the Taliban assumed power. Even in areas where women were allowed to retain their jobs, largely in the health and education sector, compliance with the Taliban’s increasingly restrictive requirements has become impossible. The media has even begun reporting instances of families selling their children, primarily girls, to pay off existing debts or buy food.

Women in Taliban’s Afghanistan are caught between the government’s abuses and inaction by the international community, which has sent them plummeting into desperation. The Afghan Central Bank no longer has access to the International Banking System, even to engage in limited settlement transactions that could help the country pay off its mounting debts and stabilize the currency. In the absence of agreements between the Taliban and Western donors, the government is unable to process large humanitarian transactions. The UN continues providing limited humanitarian assistance but has been heavily obstructed by logistical difficulties in transferring the money to Afghan banks. Governments across the globe must review their sanctions policy and take steps to ensure that financial transactions in the form of humanitarian assistance are excluded from the scope of UN sanctions. Any financial agreements with the Taliban government must make it clear that the money will only flow if the state begins respecting its women again. *