Girls' education was fully banned when the Taliban were in power in the 90s. After the US and its allies take over, girls' education and schools spread to the remote areas of Afghanistan. Co-education was limited just to Kabul and universities. America and its allies ruled Afghanistan for almost 20 years, then the Americans suddenly decided to leave Afghanistan.
Can we say that the Americans bowed down to the Taliban? The gains that Afghan society made in the past 20 years, whether it’s education or press freedom was about to be wiped out. The famous statement of the American president, ‘We don’t want another American generation to go to war in Afghanistan’ was decisive. This made sure that the Americans and the west were no anymore interested in protecting the afghan's rights and freedom to live.
The Americans withdrew from Afghanistan in the wake of the Doha agreement. The then Afghan president Ashraf Ghani fled to UAE, making sure that another afghan president is not dragged into the street of Kabul by the Taliban as they did with Najeeb Ullah. Kabul was taken over by the Taliban without a single shot of a bullet. Meanwhile, thousands of afghans risked their lives to go to Europe, some even hanged on the plane tyres and when the tyres were folded, we saw people dropping from the sky.
For some, it was a sad end to a bloody war fought against terrorism and for the freedom and right to education of Afghan girls and some it was a new beginning of a golden Islamic era. Some termed it as the beginning of light which will spread through the whole Indian subcontinent and will fulfil the Ghazv-e-Hind prediction.
When the Taliban came into power, they were no more afraid of Television than they used to be in the 90s. They were using and sharing their views over social media. They were talking about prosperity and education. They gave new hope to the Afghan people and the rest of the world. Some analysts started calling this newer version of Taliban 2.0. Women were still seen on Kabul's streets.
After a week into the Taliban’s regime they pulled the first trigger that music is Haraam and is banned in Afghanistan from now on, anyone listening to music will have to face severe consequences. After a month, a new decree was issued that all female presenters must wear either veil or face mask. The female radio presenter in regional Afghanistan almost vanished. One can understand the plight of females working under the Taliban’s regime, it can cost a life.
Two months into the Taliban rule a new decree was issued that women can’t go out of the home without a male patron. Women can’t go abroad or travel long journeys on their own. Any taxi driver caught riding a female alone will have to face severe punishment. In Taliban-ruled Afghanistan everything starts with severe and ends with severe, there is no room for mediocrity.
Girls' secondary schools are closed in Afghanistan for over a year. According to political experts, the Taliban are using girls’ education as a tool for negotiation with the western powers. They are using it as a bargaining tool for international recognition. By now, no country has recognised the Taliban’s government officially. Even the countries which were considered the Taliban’s closest allies are hesitant to recognize the Taliban's government. Pakistan, which was one of the first countries to recognize the Taliban's government in the 90s is reluctant this time to do the same. Perhaps, it’s the way the western world perceives the Taliban this time that’s the reason that no country has accepted the theme by now. In the 90s the opposition to the hardliner wasn’t as fierce as it is this time.
In the Doha agreement, the Taliban promised the right education and work for women. So far over one year into the Taliban regime opposite is happening. Women's freedom of movement has been restricted and girls' secondary schools are still closed.
The Education minister of the Taliban government endorsed the stance on girls' education stating that it’s the Afghan society and culture in which it’s forbidden for a girl to go outside of home and study.
The positive sign this time is that girls' primary and higher institutions are open for education, which were altogether closed in the Taliban’s previous regime. But the problem here is that once the girl finishes her primary education she has to sit at home, hence the route to higher education has been terminated through the closure of secondary schools.
The International community and the UN is constantly negotiating with the Taliban government, but so far these talks have been fruitless. One can understand why talks are failing, it’s hard to convince a hardliner. A hardliner who has spent his entire life carrying guns and rockets. Now the same guys are in charge of a country, so what else can one expect?
Every positive step that was taken during the presentation of the American and coalition in Afghanistan is according to the Taliban a Western agenda and must be reversed. There ere a lot of women working in journalism and many other fields when they(Taliban) toppled Afghanist most of them have been banned from working, arguing that it was against the Sharia Law for a woman to work.
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