From forcing women to share locker rooms with biological males to letting males compete in female sports, there is little doubt that the Biden administration hates women. Democrats must be dancing in the streets now that the disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal has led to the reemergence of Taliban laws restricting women’s rights.
Last week, the Taliban released new rules approved by their leader, Hibatullah Akhundzada. These rules state that women must cover their entire bodies, including their faces, with thick clothing whenever they are in public. The goal is to prevent them from tempting men or causing problems, and it’s not an unusual tactic for the Taliban.
The new rules say that women’s voices are seen as a bad influence, so they won’t be allowed to speak in public anymore. They also can’t sing or read out loud, even in their homes.
The laws say that if a woman has to leave her house, she must hide her voice, face, and body.
Afghan women are not allowed to look directly at men who aren’t their close relatives or their husbands. Also, taxi drivers will be punished if they agree to drive a woman who doesn’t have a proper male companion.
Women and girls who don’t follow these rules can be taken into custody and punished by Taliban officials who are responsible for enforcing the new laws. These punishments are historically brutal. Earlier this year, the Taliban brought back the practice of publicly punishing women with flogging and stoning for adultery.
Since taking over from the US-backed government three years ago, the Taliban have set up what human rights groups call a “gender apartheid.” This means women and girls are kept out of most public activities and can’t use the justice system.
Before the new “vice and virtue” laws, women and girls were already not allowed to go to secondary school, work in most jobs, or go to gyms, public parks, and beauty salons. On the rare occasions they were allowed outside, they had to follow strict dress codes.
Roza Otunbayeva, the special UN representative for Afghanistan, has criticized the new rules. She says they have made the already harsh restrictions on women’s and girls’ rights even worse since the Taliban took over in August 2021.
She said that it’s worrying for Afghanistan’s future because moral inspectors now have the power to threaten and detain people based on broad and sometimes unclear rules. This adds to the already harsh restrictions on Afghan women and girls to the point where even the sound of a woman’s voice outside her home is seen as a “vice.”
Mir Abdul Wahid Sadat, the president of the Afghan Lawyers Association, told Rukhshana Media that the new laws go against both Afghanistan’s laws and international rules. He pointed out that legally, the document has serious problems and contradicts the basic ideas of Islam, which doesn’t use force or harshness to “promote good behavior.” He also mentioned that the laws break not just Afghanistan’s laws but all 30 Universal Declaration of Human Rights articles.
Fawzia Koofi, the first woman vice-president of the Afghan parliament, says that the Taliban government isn’t legitimate. She believes the new rules, which further limit and control women, show their hatred towards women. She finds it very frightening that the Taliban are saying women can’t speak in public because they see women’s voices as too personal.
Koofi is concerned that the world isn’t reacting strongly enough, which makes the Taliban feel more confident in their actions.
Shukria Barakzai, a former Afghan parliament member, agreed that the international community’s lack of response to the Taliban’s harsh treatment of Afghanistan’s 14 million women and girls has helped make it worse. Barakzai finds it worrying that international organizations like the United Nations and the European Union are trying to “get along” with the Taliban instead of standing up against their cruel actions.
Afghan women enjoyed more freedom while the US and NATO forces were in Afghanistan. After the Taliban was overthrown in 2001, women had access to education, employment, and a life outside their homes.
After Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan, the Taliban were quick to fill the void. The return of the Taliban in 2021 reasserted the organization’s stranglehold on women.
It’s not bad enough that Biden left billions of dollars’ worth of military equipment behind for the Taliban. He also left behind the hopes of every girl and woman in Afghanistan.
But it does’t matter to Biden. Afghan women aren’t American voters, and they are highly unlikely to get abortions. And in the Democratic world, those are the only two things women are good for.
