'This is our homeland': Women plead for basic rights in Afghanistan
As the Taliban increasingly excludes women from public life in Afghanistan, some are determined to speak out despite the threat of retribution from the hard-line Islamist group.The Taliban were notorious for their brutally oppressive rule from 1996 to 2001, when women were banned from going to school or work and only allowed to leave the house with a male chaperone. They have promised to change, saying they would respect women's rights within the framework of Islamic sharia law, but many remain sceptical.
In Kabul-the city that has seen the most change over the past 20 years-some young women, such as activist Shaqaiq Hakimi, refuse to be forced into exile by a return to Taliban rule. "I want to fight and regain the rights that they took from us. We don't need to go to another country. This is our homeland," she told AFP."If we are not forced to leave, then we won't go anywhere." The Taliban claim that blocks on women returning to work or girls going to secondary school will be lifted once new systems are established.
But this is an echo of the early days of the last regime, which never allowed women to return. NGO worker Farkhunda Zahidbaig, 21, described how Taliban fighters entered her office to tell management those women employees should leave. "After this, our boss made the decision that the rest of us shouldn't come to the office," she said. "Women want to have a profession, but... they can't continue in their jobs. The Taliban have taken away their freedom to work."Shabana, who asked to not be identified, is fearful she will never find a job again.
