The brothers of Taliban are back

The photo above is something from the past in Afghanistan. It shows the Taliban giving a public beating to a group of women to enforce Islamic restrictions. During their ruthless rule from 1996 to 2001, the Taliban’s Ministry of Vice was in charge of ensuring that women and men strictly adhered to Taliban’s religious edicts.

As such, it was common to see public beatings and imprisonment for women who wore white shoes or heels that clicked; using lipstick; or going outside unaccompanied by a close male relative. Women were also forced to wear burqa, banned from educating their daughters in home-based schools as well as working or begging. In essence, women were treated as a second-hand property that could be moved about, not as an equal fellow human being.

When America waged a war against Afghanistan in 2001, the repression of women was one of the main planks of the war justification. Western leaders (and their spouses) spoke about the need to liberate Afghan women, allowing them to be educated, independent and unoppressed.

For awhile, after the easy war victory and the establishment of a US-backed liberal government, everyone thought times will be different for the women of Afghanistan. However six years after the US invasion, we still hear about Taliban exerting some form of influence in parts of Afghanistan, waging battles with government and international troops.

The government led by Hamid Karzai still looks as though it is yet to be the sole political power in that country. And this is evident in what appears to be a move by the government to portray itself as a fundamental Islamist – perhaps to allay the increasing influence of the Taliban.

As such, the government now proposes to set up a Department for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice – ala the Taliban Ministry of Vice. The government says this new department will “work on promoting morality in society as exists in any other Islamic country”.

Women and human rights activists however beg to differ. For them, this new department brings dark memories of the past and they fear the return of the much dreaded religious police who patrol the streets, dishing out punishments on women who don’t comply with the pre-determined morality as envisaged by the government.

The Times of London today said:

“Nematullah Shahrani, the religious affairs minister who will oversee the department, claims it will focus on alcohol, drugs, crime and corruption. But critics point out that Afghanistan’s criminal laws already address these issues and say that once the department has been re-established, it will be easy to misuse.”

One outspoken critic is MP Malalai Joya, one of 68 women MPs in Afghanistan. She feels nothing has changed for the betterment of women in her country.

“The situation for women in Afghanistan has not improved…people in the outside world say Afghan women don’t have to wear burqas any more and yes, it’s true that in some provinces like Kabul, Jalalabad and Herat, women can go outside without a burqa. But more and more women are wearing burqas because of the lack of security. Look at the high rate of suicide among our women — Afghan women prefer to die than live because there is no security.”

And her damning verdict indicates that the Amercian venture to liberalise Afghanistan is in the process of collapsing, big time. She added:

“In my opinion what we have in power under the mask of democracy are the brothers of Taliban — fundamentalists, warlords and drug lords. Our country is under the shadow of their black hands. They are against women and re-creating the [department] is proof of this.”

Given to how things are shaping in that country at the moment, it is easy to understand why there are worries that scenes like the photo above will once again come back to haunt them.


NOTE:

1. Read the Times of London article here.
2. To find out more about the plight of Afghan women, visit Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA).