After five years of Taliban rule, women in Afghanistan continue to fight for a future
About forty girls with cream-white headscarves over blue dresses sit bent over their tests. It is probably one of the last tests they will take in their short school careers. "I would like to continue learning after grade 8, but I am not allowed," says Niloufar*.
Today marks five years since the Taliban took power in Afghanistan, after the dramatic fall of the capital Kabul. Since then, Afghan girls are not allowed to continue their education after the age of twelve. It is the only country in the world that bans secondary education for women.
According to the United Nations, nearly 2.5 million girls and women are thus condemned to the walls of their homes. "We are currently witnessing one of the worst human rights crises in the world in Afghanistan and the worst crisis for women's rights," says researcher Fereshta Abbasi of the human rights organization Human Rights Watch.
Broken promises
During the Taliban's first period of rule, between 1996 and 2001, women were also excluded in far-reaching ways. Yet during peace negotiations between the United States and representatives of the Taliban in Qatar, there was hope that things would be different now. The Taliban promised, among other things, that they would give women access to education.
"But in the past five years they have shown that it is very difficult to trust the Taliban's promises," says Abbasi. In March 2022, education for girls over 12 years old was stopped. Officially it was never forbidden, but the Taliban say it is not safe for women to go to school.
The headmistress of the girls' school we visited in Afghanistan explains that for that reason she continues to hold on to hope. "The government has promised that it would come up with a solution," she says. "That is why we keep motivating our students to think about their future."
Keeping ambition alive
Every girl in this classroom wears an ID card around her neck. It shows basic information such as her name, date of birth, and grade. But at the top, the profession of her dreams is also written.
Masha wants to become a doctor, it says on her card. The headmistress explains that students, teachers, and parents are told to address the child by the title of their dream job. "We then say, for example: 'Doctor Masha, get some food.' Or: 'Doctor Masha, do your homework.' This way we confirm the ambition they have."
This school does not want to break the students' motivation by telling them they cannot continue learning. "My older sister wants to become an engineer," Niloufar says. "I tell her to keep hoping that it is possible." In front of her lies a drawing in which she has drawn herself as a doctor.
Decree after decree
In the past five years, decrees restricting women's rights have quickly accumulated. They came directly from the ideological power center of the Taliban in Kandahar. "Priority should be given to addressing the famine, but the priority of leader Akhundzada is to judge women," says Abbasi of Human Rights Watch about this.
According to the 'Law on the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice' from 2024, simply called the virtue law, women must cover themselves completely in public. Their voice may not be heard and they may only go outside with permission and under the supervision of a man.
According to Abbasi, no reason can be found for this legislation. "At this moment, I can only believe that they hate women. The Taliban are an extremist and misogynistic group."
Earlier, the Taliban lowered the legal age at which girls may marry from 16 years to when they reach puberty. Silence from a child of around 11 years old may now be interpreted as consent for marriage.
Underground resistance
The Taliban have proven to be much more repressive during the second period of rule. For Afghan women, there was never any doubt about this, despite promises made. They are therefore taking up the resistance again.
Through underground schools, women follow lessons put together by teachers who have lost their jobs. They sometimes do this literally underground, in the basements of houses.
We spoke with several women who attend such a secret school supported with money from, among others, Dutch private individuals. "At first I was afraid to come here," says Zara*. "But when the lessons started, that fear disappeared."
Three times a week, a group of women between 15 and 25 years old meet in the basement of a house. The times vary to avoid attracting too much attention in the neighborhood.
Bina* also goes there. "They have taken away our future," she sighs. "But by attending these lessons, I have regained a little hope."
* For safety reasons, the names of interviewed girls and women have been changed.
Correspondent Devi Boerema traveled through Afghanistan to see how the country stands, five years after the takeover: