‘Rights Restricted In The Name Of Religion’: Under Taliban Rule, Afghan Women Face Increased Danger And Imprisonment
Girls can’t go to school past sixth grade. Women can’t go to the doctor or access the court system without a male relative chaperoning them. Even going to a market designed for women to buy groceries may require them to wear full-body coverings, including a layer that covers their eyes.
This is the situation in modern-day Afghanistan under the stifling rule of the Taliban, according to experts during Wednesday’s U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom hearing. The Islamic fundamentalist group came back into power in 2021 after the United States withdrew its remaining troops from the country. One expert described life in the country as comparable to living in an “open prison.”
The situation has only worsened since earlier this year, when the Taliban identified only Sunni Muslims as Afghan citizens. That means religious minorities in the country, like Christians, Hindus and Baháʼí’s must worship in secret, risking imprisonment or death. Even Muslims who belong to other branches of Islam, like Shias or denominations such as Ismailis, face greater scrutiny and even punishment.
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According to Amnesty International, there are “severe new penalties for deviating from the Hanifi School of Sunni Islam that the Taliban claim to adhere to,” and the new code designates the “beliefs contrary to the Sunni Branch of Islam as heretical.”
Sikhs in the country have almost been driven to extinction, and Christians, Jews and other non-Islamic groups have to hide their conversions to save their lives, according to Afghan human rights activist Shaharzad Akbar.
At the same time, illegal imprisonment and detention without a clear cause remains common. Taliban authorities have even taken to extorting families: Demanding money and forcing them to sign paperwork agreeing not to speak about the episode before they release their loved ones, Akbar added.
Women are uniformly persecuted throughout the country, but those who are of a minority religion might be subject to additional surveillance and police action. Many women have taken to avoiding public places altogether, but the Taliban has taken extreme measures, placing officials in what was considered the one remaining safe place such as hospitals, to monitor patients’ identities, said Soifa Ramyar, founder of Aramesh, a non-profit that provides mental health support to women in the country.
“Rights are being restricted in the name of religion,” Ramyar said.
Even Sunni Muslim women are now “self-censoring” as a protective strategy. Many no longer attend mosques because they worry they can draw attention to themselves from police. Men from those families can also receive punishment for the women in their lives.
There is a “fear of collective punishment,” Ramyar said. “[Women] often restrict themselves before an official restricts them.”
The isolation, lack of educational and employment opportunities and limits on autonomy and freedom have greatly harmed Afghan women’s mental health — and the women’s own Islamic beliefs have been warped and used against them, she said.
Akbar agreed. As part of her human rights work across the country, she talks regularly with Afghan women. One of the most “heart-breaking” moments, she said, is when the women mention that the Taliban’s actions are “being done under the same faith that gives them dignity.”
The women’s own faith is being used to “dehumanize” them, with Taliban and community leaders telling them they are not good Muslims if they want basic human rights. “The very religion that gives them strength is being used against them,” she said.
Ramyar and Hanifa Girowal, of Princeton University’s Afghanistan Policy Lab, both called for the U.S. to partner with Muslim theological scholars who can challenge the Taliban’s policies on religious grounds — helping practicing Muslims in the country explore different ways of thinking and engaging with their religion.
The Afghanistan experts also urged the United States to re-open and expedite legal immigration pathways for Afghans seeking asylum; allow Afghan students to attend American universities; and to pressure the Taliban to loosen restrictions on girls and women through targeted sanctions.
According to Global Refuge, formerly Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, the Trump administration has frozen refugee resettlement of at-risk Afghans indefinitely, and under the administration’s travel ban, visa issuance and entry for Afghan nationals are suspended.
Some girls and women have managed to continue their education online at home or in secret schools. A small group escaped the country and are attending school in neighboring Pakistan. But for most, education after primary school remains out of reach, with ripple effects throughout the country, including more child marriages and maternal mortality due to early pregnancies and a looming shortage of female medical professionals.
Men, generally, are allowed to continue their education, but religious minories may face restrictions, experts said.
Days ago, the Taliban raided and closed a Shia religious seminary and university in western Kabul, and as of this week, the whereabouts of the head of the school and several teachers were unknown, according to news reports.
Non-profits and advocates working within the country have said it’s becoming increasingly difficult to track and verify instances of human rights violations and religious persecution.
Sympathetic officials within the Taliban ranks who were once able to tip off the advocates to injustices and policy changes are no longer allowed to use smartphones, limiting advocates’ ability to contact them and receive photos or videos. Similarly, other civilian sources must work in secret to obscure their identities or employment with human rights organizations and face challenges communicating within the country.
“Our biggest challenge is getting information from within Afghanistan, and getting it verified,” Akbar said.
Cassidy Grom is the managing editor of Religion Unplugged. Her award-winning reporting and digital design work have appeared in numerous publications.