Taliban rule has had a devastating impact on Afghan women and girls, new research shows, Human Rights Watch and the Human Rights Institute at San Jose State University (SJSU) said. The organizations looked at the conditions for women since the Taliban took control in Ghazni province, in south-eastern Afghanistan.

Ghazni province, in south-eastern Afghanistan, has a population of about 1.3 million people, predominantly ethnic Pashtun and Hazara. The provincial capital, Ghazni, is on the road from Kabul to Kandahar, and was often attacked during the fighting of the past 20 years.

Since taking control of the city of Ghazni on August 12, 2021, days before entering Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, the Taliban have imposed rights-violating policies that have created huge barriers to women’s and girls’ health and education, curtailed freedom of movement, expression, and association, and deprived many of earned income. Afghanistan’s rapidly escalating humanitarian crisis exacerbates these abuses. Following the Taliban takeover, millions of dollars in lost income, spiking prices, aid cut-offs, a liquidity crisis, and cash shortages triggered by former donor countries, especially the United States, have deprived much of the population of access to food, water, shelter, and health care.

“Afghan women and girls are facing both the collapse of their rights and dreams and risks to their basic survival,” said Halima Kazem-Stojanovic, a core faculty member of SJSU’s Human Rights Institute and a scholar on Afghanistan. “They are caught between Taliban abuses and actions by the international community that are pushing Afghans further into desperation every day.”

Human Rights Watch and SJSU remotely interviewed 10 women currently or recently in Ghazni province, including those who had worked in education, health care, social services, and business, and former students.

They described spiralling prices for food staples, transportation, and schoolbooks, coupled with an abrupt and often total income loss. Many had been the sole or primary wage earner for their family, but most lost their employment due to Taliban policies restricting women’s access to work. Only those working in primary education or health care were still able to work, and most were not being paid due to the financial crisis.

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The Taliban have banned women and girls from secondary and higher education, and altered curricula to focus more on religious studies. They dictate what women must wear, how they should travel, workplace segregation by sex, and even what kind of cell phones women should have. They enforce these rules through intimidation and inspections.

“The future looks dark,” said one woman who had worked in the government. “I had many dreams, wanted to continue studying and working. I was thinking of doing my master’s. At the moment, they [the Taliban] don’t even allow girls to finish high school.”

The women said they had acute feelings of insecurity because the Taliban have dismantled the formal police force and the Women’s Affairs Ministry, are extorting money and food from communities, and are targeting for intimidation women they see as enemies, such as those who worked for foreign organizations and the previous Afghan government.

“The crisis for women and girls in Afghanistan is escalating with no end in sight,” said Heather Barr, associate women’s rights director at Human Rights Watch. “Taliban policies have rapidly turned many women and girls into virtual prisoners in their homes, depriving the country of one of its most precious resources, the skills and talents of the female half of the population.”  

Loss of Income, Employment

Nearly all the women interviewed who previously had paid employment had lost their jobs. “In Ghazni [province], only female healthcare workers and teachers can go to work,” a non-governmental organization worker said.

“A few days after the Taliban took over Ghazni and Kabul, Mullah Baradar [a senior Taliban leader] said that women can go back to work,” a government worker said. “I went to work, but I was not allowed to go in. The Taliban members said, ‘We don’t need women to work anymore. You should not come back until further notice.’

Those still working have largely not been paid because health care and education were almost entirely financed by foreign donors, whose aid has been cut off. The only interviewee being paid regularly was working for an international non-governmental group.

A primary school teacher who is the main wage earner for her family of 10 said: “It’s been three months that we haven’t been paid. We go and teach, but nothing.” Her salary was 5,500 afghanis (US$46) per month and she previously supplemented this by teaching at a private school, but the private school also stopped paying teachers.

The financial crisis has decimated even paid work within the home. “We would weave or do embroidery – there was a market for that,” one woman said. “Now there are no jobs, no buying and selling. People have no jobs, no motivation and hope.”

Intimidation and Threats

Taliban authorities in Ghazni city search for women they see as having engaged in behavior they find unacceptable. A woman previously with a non-governmental agency said she was in hiding, moving locations frequently:

Several said they had relatives or friends in hiding who were afraid to be interviewed. “Women who were in the army or worked as police were targets,” a government worker said.   Several cited the Taliban’s killing of two female police officers in Ghazni, days before the province fell to the Taliban, as having struck particular fear among women in the community.

Some women felt heightened risk because of both gender and ethnicity or religion. “It’s difficult for us because we are the Hazara minority,” a healthcare worker said, referring to her ethnic group, which has long been persecuted in Afghanistan. “When we talk to [Taliban members], they don’t even look at us, they don’t consider us at all,” she said, referring to Hazara staff members at her health facility. “I am impatient, and I confront them sometimes, but they threaten us, saying we would get fired, or be killed.”

The Taliban’s return to power has made members of some ethnic and religious minorities feel more vulnerable to threats even from those not affiliated with the Taliban.   

Taliban authorities have also used intimidation to extract money, food, and services. “When the Taliban visit a village, they force the households to feed them and collect food items from people,” a woman from a village said.  

Interviewees said the Taliban extorted money. They sometimes said they were demanding “taxes,” but the demands were made without standard rates or transparency and in a context in which communities have lost many government services. One woman said the Taliban had dramatically increased taxes on her farming community to a level that families simply could not afford.

“The problem is that in the Taliban’s government, you cannot complain anywhere,” she said. “Who would you complain to? There’s no one to monitor the situation. There’s also no help from the government, no humanitarian assistance as before. Unfortunately, all windows of hope are closed on us.”

“The Taliban collect taxes from the districts,” a former government employee said. “We have no choice but to pay the amount – we have seen and experienced Taliban’s cruelty. If they don’t pay, the Taliban fine and detain them.”

New Rules for Women’s Conduct, Dress

The Taliban have imposed new restrictions on women’s dress and conduct, which affect every aspect of their lives, including their career options. “Women can only become teachers or nurses, nothing else,” the government worker said.  

Women dress carefully to avoid the Taliban’s notice. “I wear a burqa, and my life has changed so much,” a former nongovernmental group worker said. 

Curriculum Changes

Teachers reported that the Taliban had already made changes to the curriculum. “More religious subjects have been added,” a teacher said, and subjects such as physical education and art that were deemed “unnecessary” were removed to make space in the school day. Islamic religious studies were already part of the curriculum, but the Taliban have significantly increased the focus on these studies. “The Taliban think that before them there was no Islam and Muslims in the country,” a former government worker said.

——Excerpts from HRW report (https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/01/18/afghanistan-taliban-deprive-women-livelihoods-identity)