Daily Times

The Taliban-led Afghan government on Friday released a decree on women’s rights, stating women should not be considered “property” and must consent to a marriage, but failed to mention female access to education or work outside the home.

The Taliban have been under pressure from the international community, who have mostly frozen funds for Afghanistan, to commit to upholding women’s rights since the group took over the country on August 15.

“A woman is not a property, but a noble and free human being; no one can give her to anyone in exchange for peace…or to end animosity,” the Taliban decree, released by spokesman Zabihullah Muhajid, said. It set out the rules governing marriage and property for women, stating women should not be forced into marriage and widows should have a share in their late husband’s property.

Courts should take into account the rules when making decisions, and religious affairs and information ministries should promote these rights, the decree said. However, it made no mention of women being able to work or access facilities outside the home or education, which have been major concerns from the international community.

During its previous rule from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban banned women from leaving the house without a male relative and full face and head covering and girls from receiving education. The Taliban say they have changed and high schools for girls in some provinces have been allowed to open. But many women and rights advocates remain sceptical.

The international community, which has frozen billions in central bank funds and development spending, has made women’s rights a key element of any future engagement with Afghanistan.

The country, which is also suffering from a banking liquidity crisis as the cash flow dries up due to sanctions, is facing the risk of economic collapse since the Taliban took over.

Asylum: Requests for asylum in Europe hit a five-year high in September, with Afghans in particular seeking safety after the Taliban stormed to power in Kabul.

The European Asylum Support Office, which keeps figures for the 27 EU member states plus Norway and Switzerland, said 71,200 requests had been made.

This was the highest monthly level since November 2016 and came as the number of Afghans among the arrivals jumped by 72 percent in just a month. In August, the hardline Islamist Taliban movement seized the Afghan capital and control of the whole country after a 20-year war against the former US-backed regime. Fighting has subsided, but the country is facing its worst drought in two decades and millions face what US agencies dub one of the world’s worst humanitarian disasters. The numbers of Afghans reaching Europe rose from 10,000 in August to 17,300 in September.

The other main countries of origin of applicants are Syria with 9,100, Turkey on 3,000 and Iraq with 2,900 — many of them among the migrants arriving over the Belarus border. Brussels accuses Belarus strongman Alexander Lukashenko of channelling would-be refugees towards his borders with Poland and Lithuania in a destabilising “hybrid attack”.