Many Afghan Americans have vowed to fight against the Taliban government’s heinous policy by protesting the recent ban on women studying in Afghanistan.
Rayan Yasini from California, who was speaking on behalf of the Afghan Cultural Society and was accompanied by several Afghan Americans from all over the nation, said in front of the White House on Sunday, “We are here to fight for girls’ right to education.”
Yasini added that they were there to ensure that it doesn’t continue to be the case that girls in Afghanistan no longer have the right to attend school.
The Taliban leadership was urged to lift a recent restriction on girls studying in the nation by Nasir Khan, president of the Afghan Society. He insisted that Afghan girls must be granted their rights.
Hikmat Sorosh, an Afghan American who took part in the protest in front of the White House, claimed that the Taliban had actively worked to discourage girls from attending school. He added that the entire world, including the UN, was observing what was happening in Afghanistan.
Taliban Urged by UN to Lift Restrictions on Women
The Taliban-led government in Afghanistan was urged to end its escalating restrictions on women’s rights by the UN Security Council. In addition to calling for the full, equal, and meaningful participation of women and girls in Afghanistan, it “reiterated its serious concern with the suspension of schools beyond the sixth grade.”
Volker, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, warned that excluding women from working for non-governmental organizations would have “terrible consequences.”
Last week, the Taliban banned women from attending universities, which sparked protests in Afghan cities and international criticism.
They made the announcement on Saturday, which has already led four significant international aid organizations to halt their activity in Afghanistan.
Volker Türk, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said in a statement released in Geneva that “no country can develop—indeed, survive—socially and economically with half its citizens excluded. These unfathomable restrictions placed on women and girls will not only increase the suffering of all Afghans but, I fear, pose a risk beyond Afghanistan’s borders.”
When the Taliban seized control last year, they first pledged a more moderate system that would protect the rights of minorities and women, but they have since broadly enacted their rigid version of Islamic law, known as Sharia.
The foreign ministers of Australia, Canada, the United States, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, Norway, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, as well as the high representative of the European Union, strongly denounced the Taliban’s decision to prohibit women from attending universities and their ongoing ban on girls attending secondary schools in a joint statement.
According to the foreign ministers, all Afghans are supported in their aspiration to enjoy their human rights. “With these moves, the Taliban are further isolating themselves from the Afghan population and the international community,” the statement said.
Taliban’s Oppression of Women’s Education
When the Taliban initially came to power in Afghanistan in 1996, they quickly transformed the country from a democratic movement to a dictatorial nationalist religious rule with harsh laws targeting minorities, women, and political opponents. The United States expelled the Taliban in 2001 because they had been hosting Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda.
Higher education institutions have been required to abide by a number of discriminatory regulations, including gender-segregated lectures, ever since the Taliban violently took control of Afghanistan in August 2021 following America’s catastrophic withdrawal from the country.
Most Afghan girls were barred from secondary school starting in August 2021. Other oppressions include requiring women to cover their entire bodies and barring them from places like parks and gyms.
